A collection of essays, fiction, and criticism from the second decade of the US’s premier intellectual magazine, edited by Mark Krotov, Nikil Saval, and Dayna Tortorici

n+1 was founded in 2004 as a little magazine with big ambitions that would treat literature, culture, and politics as inextricable concerns. Within a decade, it went from a pipe dream in a Brooklyn apartment to “the bellwether of a new generation of literary intellectuals” (Harper’s Magazine)—an essential publication known for discovering talent and marking the cutting edge of political and cultural discourse. 

Twenty years in, the magazine’s impact on American intellectual life remains undiminished. The Intellectual Situation: The Best of n+1’s Second Decade collects twenty-four era-defining essays, short stories, and reviews published by n+1 between 2014 and 2024. Featuring a murderer’s row of 21st-century writers and thinkers—including Andrea Long Chu, Anna Wiener, Tobi Haslett, Tony Tulathimutte, A. S. Hamrah, Sarah Resnick, Ari M. Brostoff, Elizabeth Schambelan, Jesse McCarthy, Gabriel Winant, Dawn Lundy Martin, and writer-editors Dayna Tortorici, Nikil Saval, Mark Krotov, Lisa Borst, and Nausicaa Renner—The Intellectual Situation is a gateway drug to the vast, heady, and impossibly variegated world of n+1. Whether examining the Bernie Sanders campaign or start-up culture, trap music or contemporary sexual politics, the George Floyd protests or the Covid-19 pandemic, the entries in this definitive anthology capture how the US’s premier intellectual magazine met an extraordinary moment in history.

Praise for The Intellectual Situation

“The Intellectual Situation contains not just some but much of the best writing and thinking of the past ten years. Everyone must own this collection.” —Malcolm Harris, author of Palo Alto

“n+1 is the smartest and coolest magazine. Every intellectual who cares about situations needs a copy of this book.” —Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot and Either/Or

“Since 2004, n+1 has nurtured and published extraordinary writers and thinkers who have made a major impact on cultural life and on left-wing political thought—a rare combination of radical commitment and literary sophistication. Featuring some of the best essays and fiction I’ve read over the past decade, The Intellectual Situation beautifully captures the sweep and the ambition of the writing in n+1. It is a perfect introduction to an indispensable magazine—and a must for long-time fans.” —Daniel Denvir, host of The Dig podcast and author of All-American Nativism