December 3, 2024

Seven Stories to Read on Memorial Day

2 min read
A vintage photo of a Black family sitting around a table and grilling outside

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.

For Memorial Day, our editors have selected a list of seven notable stories about the greenest way to grill, the decline of babysitters in America, and more.


Your Reading List

25 Books to Get Lost in This Summer

Here are 25 books to pick up as your summer unfurls, whether you’re in the mood to transport yourself to another place, indulge in a breezy beach read, learn something completely new, or immerse yourself in a cult classic.

By The Atlantic Culture Desk

The Greenest Way to Grill

The type of fuel you choose isn’t as important as how sustainably it’s sourced, and what you’re grilling matters more.

By Ian Bogost

The One Place in Airports People Actually Want to Be

Inside the competition to lure affluent travelers with luxurious lounges

By Amanda Mull

How to Be Less Busy and More Happy

If you feel too rushed even to read this, then your life could use a change.

By Arthur C. Brooks

Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead

For decades, sitting was both a job and a rite of passage. Now it feels more like a symbol of a bygone American era.

By Faith Hill

How Daniel Radcliffe Outran Harry Potter

He was the world’s most famous child star. Then he had to figure out what came next.

By Chris Heath

Why a Dog’s Death Hits So Hard

I loved my mom more than my dog. So why did I cry for him but not for her?

By Tommy Tomlinson


P.S.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Decoration Day,” published in The Atlantic in June 1882, pays tribute to what was then a new form of civic observance: a day set aside to commemorate those who had died in the Civil War. This custom eventually gave rise to our modern Memorial Day.


Shan Wang contributed to this newsletter.

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