In celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday, we posed a simple question to some of our favorite critics, columnists and editors across the New York Times newsroom, people who write about books, movies, TV shows, science, sports, wellness and food. We asked: What’s the most American thing on your beat?

On today’s episode, we present their answers. Happy Birthday, America!
 

On Today’s Episode

Joshua Barone, culture editor, on “Rodeo,” composed by Aaron Copland

Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic, on workout gear

Erik Piepenburg, culture writer, on the movie “Get Out”

Kevin Roose, technology columnist, on Amazon Prime

Mekado Murphy, culture editor, on the roller coaster The Beast

James Poniewozik, chief television critic, on “Survivor”

Jancee Dunn, wellness writer, on productivity and sleep

Elena Bergeron, culture editor, on U.S. hockey

Jennifer Szalai, nonfiction book critic at the Book Review, on “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World” by Henry Grabar

Bill Wasik, science editor, on liquid rocket fuel

Madison Malone Kircher, internet culture reporter, on Bama Rush

Kim Severson, food reporter, on M&M’s

MJ Franklin, editor at the Book Review, on “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Helen Shaw, chief theater critic, on “The Century Cycle” by August Wilson

Alissa Wilkinson, film critic, on the movie “There Will Be Blood”

Zachary Small, culture reporter, on Grand Theft Auto

Elisabeth Vincentelli, culture reporter, on demolition derbies

Jason Zinoman, critic at large, on the song “Political Science” by Randy Newman

Jason Farago, critic at large, on the Statue of Liberty

A.O. Scott, critic at large, on “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman (featuring a reading by Jeffrey Wright)

Gia Kourlas, dance critic, on “Stars and Stripes” by George Balanchine and “Appalachian Spring” by Martha Graham

Jon Caramanica, pop music critic, on “Trump Trump Baby” by Forgiato Blow

 Photo credit: The New York Times

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Two hundred and fifty years ago, the founding fathers gave rise to a new nation. They also gave rise to an enduring myth about their virtue and what that meant about America’s virtue as a country.

Jia Lynn Yang, a New York Times journalist, discusses how the founding myth has evolved, why we are still fighting about it and why it may hold the key to America’s future.

Guest: Jia Lynn Yang, a New York Times journalist writing explanatory pieces about the ideas underlying the news.

Background reading: 

• Is there a founding story that can unify left and right?

Photo: Michelle Gustafson for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The rare doublet earthquake in Venezuela was one of the most powerful tectonic events to strike the country in the past century, and the death toll was virtually certain to rise as rescuers began to reach hard-hit areas and remote hillside towns.

Carlos Prieto, a producer on “The Daily,” speaks to Venezuelans about how they’ve united after the disaster. Then, Anatoly Kurmanaev, a New York Times correspondent in Venezuela, discusses how the aftermath of the tragedy has forced the Trump administration to shift its plans.

Guest: 

• Carlos Prieto, an audio producer for “The Daily.”
• Anatoly Kurmanaev, a reporter for The New York Times, currently covering Venezuela.

Background reading: 

• People are praying for rescues as hope fades after Venezuela’s double quake.
• The United States undercut María Corina Machado, an exiled opposition leader, as she tried to return to Venezuela.

Photo: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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As the cost of higher education has soared in recent decades, universities have attracted more scrutiny about the value of a four-year degree.

Now, the Trump administration is taking those questions to the next level with a set of policies that scales back the federal government’s student loan program.

Ron Lieber, who writes about personal finance for The New York Times, explains what the new changes are, and how they might reshape higher education in America.

Guest: Ron Lieber, the Your Money columnist for The New York Times, writes about everything from retirement savings and college tuition to credit reports and taxes.

Background reading: 

• Parents and graduate students have new loan limits. Who will fill the gap?
• What the new loan caps will mean for grad students this fall.

Photo: Rachel Woolf for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In 1992, David Wood became El Paso’s most notorious convicted serial killer. He has been on death row ever since. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have just a few months to argue his innocence and stop his execution.

This is the first episode of a new five-part series from Serial Productions called “The Last 12 Weeks.” You can find the rest of the series by searching for “The Last 12 Weeks” on your favorite podcast player.

To find out about new shows from Serial Productions, and get a look behind the scenes, sign up for our newsletter at: https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/serial

Have a story pitch, a tip, or feedback on our shows? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The comedian and actor says class and the way she grew up inform everything about the way she lives now.

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

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The writer Tom Junod has spent a career crafting profiles for men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire, often of famously complicated men like Norman Mailer, Kevin Spacey and Tony Curtis.

But another man loomed behind Junod’s interest in these figures, informing his own sense of masculinity and manhood: his father, Lou.

Lou Junod was handsome, charismatic — a man who seemed like a celebrity, even though he wasn’t famous. He was also mysterious, a keeper of secrets that have continued to reverberate through his son’s life.

On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro talks with Junod about his new book, “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man,” which is part memoir and part detective story, as well as a powerful meditation on fatherhood.

On Today’s Episode:

Tom Junod is the author of “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man.”

Background Reading:

Tom Junod Would Like to Tell You About His Father

Art: Lou Junod with baby Tom in 1958.

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Almost 50 years ago, Steven Spielberg directed “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the story of an average man who discovers that humanity may not be alone in the universe. Over the decades, Spielberg has directed several movies about what would happen if humanity made contact with aliens. Would the aliens be kind like the title character in “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial”? Would they be cruel like the murderous aliens of “War of the Worlds”? And regardless of what the aliens were like, would we humans be ready to receive them?

Spielberg returns to the question of whether we’re alone in the universe, and what it might mean if we’re not, with his new film “Disclosure Day.” Today, he sits down with Rachel Abrams, a host of “The Daily,” to talk about the film, and about what he has learned over five decades of making movies about aliens.

On Today’s Episode

Steven Spielberg, director of “Disclosure Day.”

Background Reading

‘Disclosure Day’ Review: Spielberg Plays His Greatest Cosmic Hits

What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear, Catharsis, and Being Human

Photo credit: Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The 2026 World Cup is about to descend on North America — spread across three countries, with 48 teams, and 104 games, and with billions of fans across the globe tuning in to watch the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Today, Tariq Panja, global soccer correspondent for The New York Times, breaks down everything you need to know about this year’s tournament — the arrival of historic first-timers, like Curaçao, the aging legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are making their final appearances, and the eye-watering ticket prices that are driving fans to financial extremes just to book a seat.

On Today’s Episode:

Tariq Panja, is a global sports correspondent for the New York Times.

Background Reading:

The World Cup’s Forgotten Team

World Cup or Bust: Going Into Debt, Sleeping 10 to a Room and Layovers for Days

Photo credit: Hannah Mckay/Reuters. 

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Olivia Rodrigo sat down with Joe and Jon for her first in-depth conversation about her new album, “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” out June 12. She discussed the many ways her creative process intersects with the extracurricular noise of pop superstardom, whether its managing relationship drama; being targeted for the way she dresses, accusations of pilfering songwriting gestures from Taylor Swift, her onetime idol, or her willingness to speak up about political and social causes in a way many of her peers won’t.

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Andy Isaacson is a writer and photographer. His work for The Times has taken him to every corner of the world, and he has transmitted what he’s experienced through his images.

But recently, Isaacson took a trip unlike any he’d taken before. Not because of where he traveled, but because of how he traveled.

Paired with a set of unlikely travel companions, he put down his camera and experienced the word through touch, smell and sound.

On today’s episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Isaacson talks with Host Michael Barbaro about a trip that forever changed the way he travels.

On today's episode:

Andy Isaacson, a contributing writer and photographer for The New York Times.

Background Reading

Sites Unseen: What Travel Is Like for Those Who Can’t See

Photo credit: Andy Isaacson

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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