The Believer Issue 150 Summer 25

Inside the landmark 150th issue of The Believer, Shruti Swamy reports on the alleged abuses of her childhood guru Swami Rama, a man powerful enough to stop his own heart; Paul Collins attempts to read the largest newspaper of all time; Rafia Zakaria follows her father on his infuriating quest for water and power in Karachi, Pakistan; and, forty years after he first attended Cru’s Winter Conference, David J. Morris returns to observe the hugely popular evangelical organization that influenced his youth. You’ll also find interviews covering a range of topics, such as furniture protections tips from country star Lyle Lovett; the kinds of books Sheila Heti most likes to read; and what the writer and cartoonist Charles Johnson deems “fuzzy-bunny Buddhism”; not to mention a comic by Maxim Gérin in which a night at the movies descends toward mayhem. We also have columns by Pitchaya Sudbanthad on the sordid tourism of a once mythic Thai beach, Nora Lange on Weekend at Bernie’s, Joan Silber on her daily routine, and Nick Hornby on Susie Boyt’s latest novel.

All this plus, in honor of our 150th anniversary issue, a very special letters section, along with a super-size index cataloging every essay, interview, and schema ever published inside these pages. Thank you for reading the past 150 issues of The Believer. Here’s to 150 more