New Yorker: Out Loud

This week in the magazine, Emily Nussbaum takes a look at the latest season of "Mad Men." Here, Nussbaum talks with Sasha Weiss and Michael Agger about the show's triumphs, the problems with Don Draper's backstory, and why anti-heroes like Don dominate many of the most ambitious serial TV dramas. Also, Susan Orlean calls in from her treadmill desk.

This week in the magazine, the novelist Rivka Galchen goes back to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, where she did her medical residency, and writes about a doctor she had a rotation with, Dr. Joseph Lieber. Here, she and Jerome Groopman, who writes about medical issues for the magazine, talk about the training of doctors and about medical writing with the literary editor of newyorker.com, Sasha Weiss. Also, Joan Acocella on the new-burlesque scene.

This week in the magazine, Ben McGrath profiles the knuckleball pitcher R. A. Dickey. Here, Amy Davidson talks with McGrath and Roger Angell about the strange charms of the knuckleball (and knuckleball pitchers), and how they approach writing about baseball. Also, Ariel Levy on half-wild house cats.

This week in the magazine, William Finnegan tells the story of Mark Lyttle, a U.S. citizen from North Carolina who was deported to Mexico despite ample evidence that he was an American. Michael Agger spoke with Finnegan and his editor, John Bennet, about Lyttle's nightmarish story and what it says about our immigration system. They also looked back at Finnegan's writing career, including his early Profile of Barack Obama and his years reporting from Africa and Mexico. Also, the cartoon editor Bob Manko...

This week in the magazine, Burkhard Bilger writes about NASA's Curiosity rover mission. Here, Sasha Weiss talks with Bilger and his editor Cressida Leyshon about his career, which includes writing about Burmese pythons in Florida, police dogs in New York City, and short-order cooks in Las Vegas. Bilger explains how having a German engineer for a father shaped his interest in science, and how growing up in Oklahoma led to his interest into Southern subcultures (he's also written about coonhounds, cockfi...

This week in the magazine, Nick Paumgarten Profiles the novelist James Salter, whose first novel in thirty years, "All That Is," was published this month. Here, Nick Paumgarten and the fiction editor Deborah Treisman talk with Michael Agger about why Salter isn't better known, his recurring themes (including sex, marriage, and the heroic code of military men), and his unique prose style, which combines, as Treisman puts it, "ornateness and bluntness." Also, the night-thoughts of Lucie Brock-Broido.

This week in the magazine, novelist Hisham Matar writes about his return to Libya after decades of exile. Here, David Remnick talks with Matar about leaving Libya as a boy, his fathers imprisonment and disappearance, and returning to Libya in the wake of the Libyan revolution. Also, why more people are buying bitcoins.

In the magazine this week, Michael Schulman writes about Tim Minchin, the singer-songwriter-comedian who composed the music and lyrics for the musical "Matilda" (an adaptation of the Roald Dahl book), which just opened on Broadway after a celebrated run in London. Here, Schulman listens to and explains a few of the songs that made Minchin famous in his native Australia and in the U.K. Also, a phone call with Minchin himself.

This week in the magazine, Kelefa Sanneh writes about Dapper Dan, the Harlem designer whose flashy fur-lined leather coats helped shape hip-hop style. Here, Sanneh and Leo Carey talk with Sasha Weiss about status and influence in men's fashion, as well as The New Yorker style when it comes to writing about clothes. Also, some Fung Wah blues.

This week in the magazine, Jane Kramer reviews "Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat," by the British food writer and historian Bee Wilson. It's more than a book review, though: The New Yorker's European correspondent brings into it her own passion for cooking and her years of writing about food. In this week's New Yorker Out Loud, Sasha Weiss visits Kramer in her New York apartment to talk about cooking, kitchens, and why food is so central to her life. Also, James Surowiecki weighs ...