From Napoleon to Vladimir Putin, disease has shaped history
A sacked New York Times reporter takes a global view of disease
Early one morning a New York Times reporter was shaken roughly awake. He was sleeping in a tiny hut, deep in the Cameroonian rainforest. Some local criminals were coming to kidnap him, his guide warned. Both men fled, just in time.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Pen v pandemic”
Culture February 17th 2024
- The third-largest exporter of television is not who you might expect
- A secret room in Florence boasts drawings by Michelangelo
- On “A Wonderful Country”, Israelis joke their way through trauma
- The Wa: the world’s biggest drug-dealers, with a tiny profile
- From Napoleon to Vladimir Putin, disease has shaped history
- The real message of Vladimir Putin’s chat with Tucker Carlson
From the February 17th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Angela Merkel sets out to restore her reputation
But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds
The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist
Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies
What to read to understand Elon Musk
The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction
Tech and religion are very much alike
They both have gods, rich institutions and secretive cultures
Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline
A dispassionate new biography chronicles the former president’s hostility to suffrage
The cult of Jordan Peterson
What the Canadian intellectual gets right about young men