Why Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. So Convinced He’s Right?
How an outsider, once ignored by the public-health establishment, became the most powerful man in science
January 2026
In This Issue
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the mystery of the Iranian spy, Jollibee's postcolonial chicken, and the new German war machine. Plus the history of experience, the culture war comes to the kitchen, drummers, Sam Shepard, neocons, Jorie Graham, school accommodations, and more.
Cover Story
Get the digital edition of this issue.
Subscribers can access PDF versions of every issue in The Atlantic archive. When you subscribe, you’ll not only enjoy all of The Atlantic’s writing, past and present; you’ll also be supporting a bright future for our journalism.Features
Can Jollibee Beat American Fast Food at Its Own Game?
A fast-growing Filipino chain is serving burgers and chicken that seem like typical American fare—until you taste them.
They Killed My Source
A man claiming to be an Iranian intelligence officer promised me he would reveal his country’s secrets. Then he disappeared.
The New German War Machine
After World War II, Germany embraced pacifism as a form of atonement. Now the country is arming itself again.
What if Our Ancestors Didn’t Feel Anything Like We Do?
The historians who want to know how our ancestors experienced love, anger, fear, and sorrow
Dispatches
Illustration by Ben Hickey Accommodation Nation
America’s colleges have an extra-time-on-tests problem.
Illustration by Erik Carter The Neocons Were Right
Not about Iraq. But the moral tenor of their political writings could be an antidote to Trumpism.
Owen Harvey By the Horns
Miriam Cabas is one of Spain’s few female bullfighters. What does her success mean for bullfighting, and for Spain?
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Liz Hart. Source: Kevin Nixon / Classic Rock Magazine / Future Publishing / Getty. The Great Mystery of Drumming
It’s about the flow of Time, not just keeping the beat.
Illustration by Lucas Burtin The Culture War Comes to the Kitchen
How the politics of food brought together the crunchy left and the trad right
AGIP / RDA / Everett Collection What Sam Shepard Couldn’t Outrun
The actor, playwright, and self-made cowboy was also a poet of masculine angst.
Illustration by Mathieu Larone The Germans Who Stood Up to Hitler
And the Germans who didn’t
Departments
The Atlantic The Commons: ‘Sudan Is a Good Place to Wage Peace’
Readers respond to our September 2025 cover story and more.
The Atlantic Caleb's Inferno: January 2026
A devilish crossword puzzle
Poetry
Illustration by Paul Spella The Eloquence
A poem
