This Year’s Must-Read Letters to the Editor

Over the course of 2018, thousands of Atlantic readers wrote us letters about articles in our magazine and on our website. Here are some of the most memorable.

• A Pediatrician Tells His Former Patient: “I Am Disappointed in Myself”
  “I never initiated discussions relating to sexuality, abuse, or rape.”
• “I Want to Grow Up to Be Someone That Fights for Families Like Yours”
  Teenagers in California respond to the story of a mother and son separated at the border.
• Gary Hart Was Not Set Up
  A journalist who reported on Gary Hart’s downfall in 1987 pushes back on the notion that the candidate’s Monkey Business incident may have been staged.
• “My Culture Was in My DNA”
  Readers share their experiences with genetic testing—and debate whether ancestry can be a meaningful proxy for culture.
• “I’d Rather Suffer Honestly Than Proclaim Victory!”
  Readers debate the virtues of fair-weather fandom.
• Why Don’t Women Write to the Editor? Because They’re Doing Absolutely Everything Else.
  Female readers weigh in on why they, and other women, choose not to correspond.
• Disagreeing About Abortion Can Be Respectful, After All
  Readers respond to the essay “Three Children, Two Abortions”
• Why Carry a Gun?
  Readers respond to David French’s essay on what critics don’t understand about gun culture.

• Bari Weiss vs. the “Outrage Mobs”
  Readers push back on the idea that “small differences, indignation, and an infatuation with being offended” have dominated the conversation about American identity politics.
• Leaving America Behind Amid the Turmoil of 1968
  A reader reflects on the country’s racial struggles, then and now.