Lisa Miller

Betsy DeVos used to have more friends. Way back in 2016, a coalition of reputable, fair-minded education reformers — some of them Democrats — got together to vouch for her. Sure, she was inexperienced in the policy realm. Also, an outsider to Washington. Also, naïve to the demands of living under the internet’s ever-watchful eye.

A husband, I’ve learned, can’t be everything. You have to choose the human qualities that matter most — to you — and trust your gut, and go with that. This is much harder, even, than it sounds, because in the 21st century a woman is encouraged to display herself, kalaidescopically, as contradictory things, a kitten

The 10,000 residents of Flat Rock, Michigan, are cheerful lately — you might even say optimistic. Fifteen new businesses have opened in the past year, including Blue Heron Trading Company, a candle-scented gift shop selling local jams and jellies, and a Burger King franchise directly across the street from the Ford Motor Company assembly plant,

At 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, September 10, a hired SUV pulled up to the curb of a low-slung brick-and-wood house in suburban Virginia and let a passenger out. The man, who wore a tan baseball cap and a black T-shirt, did not glance at the paparazzi lenses trained on him but walked straight inside. He

Don’t bother telling me how good I look, because I know what you really mean. For my age, you mean. Face it: To tell a woman over 50 that she “looks good” is condescending, like telling a 4-year-old that she’s “so big” or a dog that he’s “so smart.” It’s a compliment that contains an

Our 12-year-old daughter, Josephine, found an interactive electoral map online, and on Election Night she was settled on the couch, snuggled in an old fleece blanket, watching TV with the map booted up in her lap. Earlier in the evening, we had dinner with friends, and she had been manic with excitement, running laps around