August 2026

In This Issue

Explore the August 2026 print edition below. Or to discover more writing from the pages of The Atlantic, browse the full archive.

Cover Story

illustration with cover of book 'Anna Karenina' disintegrating into digital noise on black background
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Wordsworth Editions.

The End of Reading Is Here

Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.

Rose Horowitch

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Features

Color photo of Roman interior with ornate door flanked by large sconces opened to inner room.
Benedetta Ristori for The Atlantic

How the Elite See Rome

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 closed door.

Cullen Murphy
black-and-white archival photo of boy in white shirt, tie, and baseball cap comforting a younger boy crying inside a vehicle
Bettmann / Getty

The 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 still trying to make sense of what happened.

Amy Weiss-Meyer
black-and-white illustration showing small-town road with storefront church on one side and bookstore across, with gathering black clouds overshadowing
Illustration by Lewis Chamberlain

The Demon Next Door

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 street.

Stephanie McCrummen

Dispatches

Culture & Critics

Departments

Poetry

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