The Atlantic Out Loud

The kids are not all right, and frustratingly, we don’t really know how to help them. By Olga Khazan. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Brown and the Secret Six—the abolitionists who funded the raid on Harpers Ferry—confronted a question as old as America: When is violence justified? By Drew Gilpin Faust. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Reconstruction created American public education. By Adam Harris. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue.Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1871, the Fisk University singers embarked on a tour that introduced white Americans to a Black sound that would reshape the nation. By Vann Newkirk II. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue.Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Longstreet became a champion of Reconstruction. Why? By Eric Foner. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal government abandoned Reconstruction in 1877, but Black people didn’t give up on the moment’s promise. By Peniel E. Joseph. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How John F. Kennedy fell for the lost cause and the grandmother who wouldn’t let him get away with it. By Jordan Virtue. From The Atlantic's December 2023 issue. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one should fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals. By Lonnie G. Bunch III. From the December 2023 issue. Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arthur Brooks, expert in identifying and avoiding sociopaths and malignant narcissists, discusses the prevalence and negative impact of dark triad personalities, the importance of recognizing and avoiding them for our well-being, their involvement in politics and social causes, and the significance of promoting positive behavior in society.

Black prosperity has provoked white resentment that can make life exhausting for people of color—and it has led to the undoing of policies that have nurtured Black advancement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices