The announcement of Bowe Bergdahl’s rescue started out simple. It quickly got complicated.
You don’t hold peace negotiations with friends.
Why, exactly, did Bowe Bergdahl walk off?
The C.I.A., the F.B.I., YouTube and the Portland Police Department? As various organizations scrambled, they realized there was no handbook for getting Bergdahl back.
After two attempts to escape from the Taliban, Bowe Bergdahl was often confined to a metal cage.
“A dead soldier is worth nothing,” one Taliban fighter said. But with Bowe Bergdahl in hand alive, the insurgent group knew it had scored.
Bowe Bergdahl had a plan. He would create a crisis, in order to call attention to another crisis.
What Democrats and Republicans got wrong about voters started with a pileup of flawed assumptions.
In “The Long Alliance,” Gabriel Debenedetti traces how political leaders of different generations and contrasting temperaments helped each other succeed.
Queen Elizabeth II was remembered by ordinary Britons, world leaders and other royals for her grace, humor and longevity. Others had more conflicted views on the monarchy.
Queen Elizabeth II was a gracious host and guest over the last seven decades, even when faced with protocol mistakes and awkward missteps.
Six of the American leaders she met during her long life offer remembrances of her and their encounters.
In “The Middle Out,” Michael Tomasky contends that Joe Biden is following a smart path in a time of growing inequality and financial distress.
When is a dress not just a dress? When it’s part of a painting meant for posterity.
The official portraits of the former president and first lady were finally unveiled in the White House after Donald J. Trump broke tradition by not holding the ceremony while in office.
Sharon Sprung, an instructor at the Art Students League of New York, is a realist painter of the old school.
In a break with tradition, there was no ceremony while former President Donald J. Trump held office. President Biden unveiled the Obama portraits: his by Robert McCurdy, hers by Sharon Sprung.
Mikhail S. Gorbachev wrote often about issues including world affairs and climate change. He also mourned former President Ronald Reagan and the former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.