Shows / The Atlantic Out Loud
The Atlantic Out Loud
Professionally narrated articles from The Atlantic—just for subscribers.
Episodes
The Atlantic Out LoudAn Absolute Beauty
With the return of a lost Don DeLillo novel and the arrival of Nick Paumgarten’s memoir, the sport at last has a worthy canon. By John Swansburg From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Geo-Located Generation
What Constant Surveillance Is Doing to Children And their parents By Sarah Zhang From the December 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudSelf-Help Needs Help
Even the luminaries of the self-help genre have begun to recognize how little in life we can actually control. By Gal Beckerman From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudKirsten’s Midlife Crisis
American Girl dolls helped define girlhood for a generation. How did the brand lose its way? By Hillary Kelly From the December 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudAfter the Apocalypse
Suppressing democracy and extracting resources at the expense of its people By Anne Applebaum From the December 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudIs There Anything BPC-157 Can't Cure?
Proponents of the peptide say it can treat gingivitis, runner’s knee, even dementia. By Tom Bartlett From the December 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Collapse of Cuba
Hunger. Sickness. Blackouts. Abandoned streets. The withering of the state is shocking to behold. By Robert F. Worth From the December…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Most Cursed Team in American Sports
Why Buffalo Bills fans are convinced this is finally their year By Kaitlyn Tiffany From the December 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudConfessions of a Bad Texter
We are truly sorry for our delayed response. By Julie Beck From the November 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite…
The Atlantic Out LoudGhosts of the Pale
In the Pale of Settlement, the writer S. An-Sky made an ecstatic, obsessive attempt to wrap his arms around an entire people just as it was disappearing. By…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Journalist and the Manipulator
Janet Malcolm policed the literary ruses of others, but wasn’t afraid to deploy them herself. By Thomas Mallon From the November 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudOur Father's Affairs
I thought my father was unique. Then I started meeting other people just like me. By Tom Junod From the November 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudThese Books of Smut and Wonder
Those Books of Smut and Wonder How Sarah J. Maas became the queen of romantasy By Honor Jones From the November 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudZombie Originalism
Samuel Alito’s efforts to revamp the conservative legal philosophy reveal that a new movement is ascendant. By Jack Goldsmith From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudChoose Your Overlord
Musk vs. Bezos By Josh Tyrangiel From the November 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Greatest Monument Builders of All Time
How the ancient pharaohs attempted to preserve their legacies for eternity By Susan Tallman From the November 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudGoing Under
A teenage boy went into surgery for a broken arm and emerged with brain damage. His mother was determined to figure out what had happened. By Sarah Zhang From…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Fish Are Getting Bigger
Fishermen have always exaggerated the size of their catches. But AI has taken the practice to a different level. By Tyler Austin Harper From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudDurkee's Is Dead
When Durkee Famous Sauce disappeared from grocery-store shelves, I mourned a piece of my childhood. By Wright Thompson From the November…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Next Front
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are readying themselves to fend off a Russian attack—with the help of the United States, or without it. By Isaac Stanley-Becker…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Great Data-Center Rebellion
Could a new populist movement help save American democracy? By George Packer From the November 2026 issue. Get more…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Babies Left Behind in America
The United States is deporting parents without their children, creating a whole new family-separation crisis. By Caitlin Dickerson From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudIn My Dreams
To make sense of my deepest experiences, I needed a new way of talking about the soul. By Ayad Akhtar From the November 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudWhat Comes After America
Emily St. John Mandel’s latest work of science fiction considers the tenuousness of any possible future. By Adam Begley From the October…
The Atlantic Out LoudSons and Mothers
My mother devoted her life to teaching writers. Becoming one meant escaping the story she had written for me. By George Packer From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudThat's No Moon
Inside the Star Wars creator’s temple to storytelling By James Parker From the October 2026 issue. Get more from your…
The Atlantic Out LoudEmpire of Grift
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction. By Anne Applebaum From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudCormac McCarthy's Midlife Crisis
Heading west at 40 transformed his writing—and American literature. By Michael O’Donnell From the October 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Election Deniers Are Now In Charge
Right-wing activists have slowly taken control of a significant part of America’s local election apparatus. The country isn’t prepared for what they might do…
The Atlantic Out LoudJackie Oh!
The novelist imagined women enjoying equality in the bedroom and the boardroom. Are we any closer to living in that world? By Sophie Gilbert From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudMothers For Sale
Most of Europe bans commercial surrogacy. The United Nations likens it to slavery. But in the United States, business is booming. By Helen Lewis From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudWill Taiwan Just Give Up?
The Taiwanese don’t trust Trump, and they don’t believe America will come to their defense. A deal with China is starting to look inevitable. By Simon Shuster…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Missing Ingredient of Modern Life
Why we need wonder By Ian Bogost From the October 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe War on Birthright Citizenship
The conservative legal movement doesn’t consider the Supreme Court’s recent ruling to be the final word on the Fourteenth Amendment. And it already has a…
The Atlantic Out LoudRoy Cohn Did It First
The debasement of American politics didn’t start with Donald Trump. By Kim Phillips-Fein From the October 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Jews Who Voted for Hitler
What happened when members of a minority community cast its lot with a political leader who despised them By Timothy W. Ryback From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Wrong Kind of American
The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public. By Julia Curlee From the October 2026 issue…
The Atlantic Out LoudInvisible Men
In his new novel, gay men struggle to escape violence in Kingston. By Stephanie Burt From the September 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudKevin Dowdell's Boys
Kevin Dowdell, a lieutenant in an elite FDNY rescue unit, taught his sons to take action. When he disappeared on 9/11, they went to Ground Zero to search for…
The Atlantic Out LoudConfessions of a Token Black Professor
The insufferable hypocrisy of elite academia By Tyler Austin Harper From the September 2026 issue. Get more from your…
The Atlantic Out LoudMusic's Most Mysterious Profession
An inside look at music’s widely misunderstood profession By Matthew Aucoin From the September 2026 issue. Get more from…
The Atlantic Out LoudBad Luck, Bad Choices
In Richard Russo’s novels, the American dream feels like a cruel joke. By Mark Oppenheimer From the September 2026 issue…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Blue Book Is Back
The humble booklet is more than just a last redoubt against cheating. Staring down its empty pages, students discover what they’re capable of as writers and…
The Atlantic Out LoudDid al-Qaeda Succeed?
Twenty-five years after 9/11, analysts can’t decide if the terrorist organization is all but defunct or more threatening than ever. By Graeme Wood From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudWhat If Freud Was Right?
A neuroscientist dares to argue that old-fashioned psychoanalysis holds the key to curing mental illness. By Scott Stossel From the September…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Great Romance Slump
Why are so few young people finding love? By Faith Hill From the September 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite Atlantic…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Cities That Said Yes to Drugs
Policies that gave addicts clean needles and places to use drugs were intended to reduce harm. They created a “zombie apocalypse.” By Michael Powell From the…
The Atlantic Out LoudNot Quite the Vineyard
Its blend of horror and comedy channels the spirit of the times. By James Parker From the September 2026 issue. Get more…
The Atlantic Out LoudHow Do Monarchs Do It?
After years of decline, butterfly populations are rising—for now. By Vann R. Newkirk II From the September 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudA Book That Wasn't Meant to Be Read
Why does Communion exist? By Matthew Walther From the September 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices…
The Atlantic Out LoudYou Call That a Pull-Up?
Military fitness experts say the secretary of defense fails on form. By Tom Bartlett From the September 2026 issue. Get more…
The Atlantic Out LoudFull Stop
Can parents ever learn to text like their kids? Should they even try? By Judith Shulevitz From the August 2026 issue. Get…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Cicerone
Need the Colosseum to yourself? Want to see a privately owned masterpiece by Caravaggio? For the tourism fixer Fulvio De Bonis, there’s no such thing as a…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Rosenberg Boys
When Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed by the U.S. government, they left behind two sons, ages 6 and 10. All these years later, Robby and Michael are…
The Atlantic Out LoudTennis’s New Golden Age
The next generation of elite players has arrived. On the court, they are delivering astonishing play. Off the court, they aren’t entirely happy. By Josh Levin…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Age of Reading Is Over
Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history. By Rose…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Demons of Maryville
A growing number of charismatic Christians see themselves as waging a spiritual battle against the forces of Satan. Sometimes those forces are right across the…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe “Consumer Socialism” Trap
The wrong way to solve the affordability crisis By Idrees Kahloon From the August 2026 issue. Get more from your favorite…
The Atlantic Out LoudWhat AI Will Do to Art
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst believe the future doesn’t have to belong to slop. By Spencer Kornhaber From the August 2026…
The Atlantic Out LoudThe Mischievous, Maddening Marcel Duchamp
If you hate contemporary art, everything you dislike about it can be traced back to him. By Sebastian Smee From the August 2026…