We’re very happy to share this year’s top ten most-read essays (plus a few more from our Substack). Many pieces on this list speak to our political and cultural moment—the seductions of post-feminism and Trump’s popularity among young men, left irony and loser-assassins, AI in the classroom and novels from Dimes Square—yet will stand up to rereading for years to come. Here, too, you’ll find memorable and hard-to-classify reflections on personal canons and adolescence, football and middle age, Nathan Fielder and Jonathan Lear. These essays span the personal, the political and the philosophical, reflecting the wide range in style and sensibility that we always hope to offer our readers.

If you’re new to the magazine or have some catching up to do, these are a great place to start. Subscribe now to get instant access to all our essays from the past year—and everything else in our archive. (You’ll also get first dibs on reading our winter issue—coming soon!)
 

1. “Last Boys at the Beginning of History” by Mana Afsari
2. “Among the Post-Feminists” by Grazie Sophia Christie
3. “Alt Lit” by Sam Kriss
4. “A Matter of Words” by Megan Fritts
5. “Gateway Books” by Timothy Aubry
6. “Jonathan Lear (1948-2025)”
7. “An Experience for Me” by Alexandra Tanner
8. “Left-Wing Irony” by Jessi Jezewska Stevens
9. “American Idols” by Sam Kriss
10. “Permanent Decline” by Leif Weatherby

And a few more hits from The Point Substack…

1. “Bringing Up Baby” by Anastasia Berg
2. “Can the Humanities Be Saved?”—a conversation with Jennifer Frey and Anastasia Berg
3. “Jon Baskin and David Sessions on the Millennial Left”

Thank you for reading The Point this year, and we’re excited for what’s to come in 2026.

Happy new year!
The Editors
 

Since it was founded in 2009, The Point has remained faithful to the Socratic idea that philosophy is not just a rarefied activity for scholars and academics but an ongoing conversation that helps us all live more examined lives. We rely on reader support to continue publishing.
 

The Point is a 501(c)3 nonprofit literary organization. All donations are tax-deductible.