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Today, we’ll introduce you to The Atlantic’s time machine. Plus, our editors selected seven great reads for you to dive into this weekend.

Time-Travel Thursdays, our latest newsletter, is “for wanderers and wonderers,” our executive editor, Adrienne LaFrance, writes in a welcome note for new readers; it’s “for those who can’t pass a used bookstore without walking in; for readers of history and of science fiction; for the takers of scenic routes and makers of impulsive travel plans.” If that sounds like you, join us as we travel through The Atlantic’s history. Our archive, which dates back to 1857, tells the story of the American idea. It’s full of delightful treasures, poems worth memorizing, arguments worth considering, and episodes of history worth revisiting (and sometimes reviling).

To begin your trip back in time, read LaFrance’s exploration of how Atlantic writers have considered the future—both those predictions that came to pass and those that very much did not—and Ellen Cushing on an index of words that’s also an index of humans’ evolving thinking. Sign up for the newsletter here.

A Weekend Reading List

Many of the below stories have narrated versions, if you prefer to listen to them; just click the link and scroll to the audio player below the headline.

Self-Checkout Is a Failed Experiment

By Amanda Mull

In theory, self-checkout kiosks save customers time. In practice, Mull writes, the technology is a mess—and when a machine breaks, human employees are the ones who pick up the slack.

The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False

By Simon Sebag Montefiore

Using the framework of “decolonization” to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict is a “leap of ahistorical delusion,” Montefiore argues—one that disregards both Israel’s foundation and the Palestinians’ tragedy.

You Can Learn to Be Photogenic

By Michael Waters

In the selfie era, looking good on camera has become a social (and sometimes literal) currency. But contrary to popular belief, it might be a skill we can learn to improve.

The Secretive Industry Devouring the U.S. Economy

By Rogé Karma

Private equity has created a private economy, one where information as basic as who owns a company and how it makes money is inaccessible. This won’t end well, Karma warns.

What Matthew Perry Knew About Comedy

By Megan Garber

The actor gave his character on Friends a quality that is all too rare in sitcoms: vulnerability.

What Really Took Down Airbnb

By Annie Lowrey

It wasn’t the government; it was the housing market.

The Sociopaths Among Us—And How to Avoid Them

By Arthur C. Brooks

We’re all likely to meet someone whose charm hides their narcissism. For the sake of our happiness, we need to understand what makes these individuals tick.

Culture Break

Jessica Sample / Gallery Stock

Read. Try one of these eight books that explain how the technologies we take for granted—skyscrapers, airplanes, sewage systems—actually work.

Watch. The Marvels, now in theaters, is fizzy and lightweight, a refreshing change of pace for a bogged-down superhero franchise.

And on the small screen, Nathan Fielder’s new show, The Curse, skewers reality TV while questioning morality’s role in entertainment. The result is an uncomfortable but worthwhile watch.

Play our daily crossword.

P.S.

For the carnivorous American, it goes without saying: Thanksgiving means turkey. But the bird we cook (and, let’s be honest, sometimes overcook) has been known by other names—hindi in Turkey, tarki in Hindi, “guinea-fowl-rooster-peacock” in (translated) scientific nomenclature. In 2014, the writer Zach Goldhammer traced the global origins of the all-American entrée; it’s the perfect article to pore over as you dig into your leftover mashed potatoes, stuffing, and guinea-fowl-rooster-peacock.

— Nicole

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