Radio Atlantic

Universities tried to be all things to all people. That model may not be working anymore.

Adam Harris is joined by Ian Bogost, Atlantic contributing writer and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, to discuss the state of higher education.

On campuses across the country, students are graduating into a job market with questions on their mind. What kind of career is stable in 2026? Will AI make it even harder to get an entry-level job? Was my education worth all the money it cost?

For universities that are already facing federal funding cuts and enrollment declines, the identity crisis their graduates are facing is an extension of their own: Is the purpose of college just to get a good job, or is there more to it? 

Colleges have been in rough spots before, but is it finally time to start rethinking their entire model?

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There is an ongoing battle for House seats. And it’s playing out not so much in elections but in congressional maps. The Atlantic staff writers Russell Berman, who’s been covering the redistricting wars for the past several months, and Vann R. Newkirk II, who’s long followed the Voting Rights Act (and now its demise), explain how this new era of tit-for-tat gerrymandering is different than ever before.

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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.
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The author Caro Claire Burke discusses her debut novel, Yesteryear, about a tradwife influencer suddenly transported back to 1855 and faced with the harsh realities of actual pioneer life. The book is a No. 1 New York Times best seller, and its film rights have already been sold and Anne Hathaway is attached to star. 

Seen one way, the tradwife is just a social-media trend, sometimes soothing to watch, sometimes infuriating. But the fantasy that fuels the phenomenon—that women should be subservient to their husbands, staying at home and tending the hearth—reflects views in the real world, where actual policies get made. Burke talks about her novel and her own political evolution.

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Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar. Napoleon Bonaparte. Donald Trump

The Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer reported this week on the president privately comparing himself to the three norm-defying, world-historical figures highlighted in the work of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. 

The president has also sought to make his mark across seemingly every manner of federal real estate, including national monuments and even currency and passports.

If Trump’s focus is on himself as a great man of history, what is he doing—and, more notably perhaps, not doing—as president today?

Read Ashley and Michael's article: “The YOLO Presidency.”

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Last week, The Atlantic published a story about how FBI Director Kash Patel’s colleagues are alarmed by what they describe as erratic behavior and excessive drinking. Sources told staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick that, on multiple occasions, members of his security detail had trouble waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated. 

Patel called the story a “lie” and earlier this week sued The Atlantic for defamation. Fitzpatrick joins Radio Atlantic to talk about her reporting inside the FBI, and how sources she spoke with are concerned about the agency keeping Americans safe during a time of heightened threats. And we talk to our staff writer Quinta Jurecic about the state of Trump’s Justice Department after Pam Bondi’s firing.

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