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More news is below. But first, we have the latest on a shooting in Minneapolis and a look at the state of modern self-help books.
A shooting in MinnesotaMinneapolis is in mourning after a shooter opened fire at a school Mass marking the start of the academic year. “We are a city united in grief,” Jacob Frey, the mayor, told a crowd at a candlelight vigil. “Let us take the next step to be a city united in action.” The shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, in the south of the city, lasted about two minutes. It took the lives of two children and wounded more than a dozen people. Children and staff members ducked for cover under the pews, witnesses said, as the assailant fired into the church through the stained-glass windows. At least two doors of the church had been barricaded from the outside, the police said. The attacker later shot herself. The F.B.I. is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics. Here’s what else to know: The victims: The attack killed two children, ages 8 and 10, who died in the pews of the church. At least 14 other children, between the ages of 6 and 15, were wounded, as were three parishioners in their 80s. The suspect: The authorities identified the attacker as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old who they believe was a former student at the school. The shooter was armed with three guns, all of which had been legally purchased. The motive: Investigators said they had not determined a motive. The suspect’s social media posts show a fixation on guns, violence and school shooters. Videos she posted featured diary entries that described the killing of children and a drawing of the church’s interior. The response: President Trump signed a proclamation lowering flags to half-staff until Sunday. Pope Leo, the first American leader of the Catholic Church, expressed profound sadness over the shooting. On social media, Gov. Tim Walz said, “Minnesota is heartbroken.” He added, “We will get through this together.”
Help me out
A certain kind of self-help book is dominating the best-seller list. With titles like “The Courage to Be Disliked” and “Set Boundaries, Find Peace,” these books tell readers not to worry so much about letting people down, not to answer those calls from aggravated friends, not to be afraid of being the villain. Every era offers a different lesson about how to self-actualize. Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” for instance, told readers in the 1910s to smile more, dole out compliments and placate people. The message today, though, is the opposite: Amid wars, venomous politics and memes of crying migrants, it’s OK to turn inward — even if that means ignoring the apparent travails of others. If you think of the best-seller list as a mirror of the social moment, the message of 2025 is that it’s OK to be a little bit of a jerk. The bookshelf“The Courage to Be Disliked” has sold more than 10 million copies. “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” has been on the New York Times best-seller list for more than 300 weeks since it came out in 2016. In September comes “Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves — and How to Find Our Way Back.” Its thesis is that some people are conditioned by their life experiences to placate others and that they’d be better served by resisting that twitch and putting their own desires first.
Across this new set of self-help titles, authors tend to urge readers not to become so invested in being liked and instead focus on being satisfied. It’s a tantalizing set of takeaways for people used to soaking up therapy language about setting boundaries and cutting off “toxic” people. There’s an old question nestled in these tomes: When is it necessary to work on yourself and not stress about the big, gnarly ills of the world? A worthy question! But especially online, lessons about self-improvement become flattened as they spread. People on TikTok are advised to “protect their peace” with a whole list of to-dos, like “distancing ourselves from people and spaces that drain us.” One person’s list includes avoiding the news. The messageSelf-help has always been a sneakily political genre. Carnegie’s book, for all its promises to democratize the tools of influence, credited charm for the ascent of the powerful, which was maybe not the whole story. Conversely, Dear Abby and Ann Landers in some ways helped smooth the way toward social progress — the two advice-giving sisters evolved with the culture. When they changed their minds on interfaith marriages and divorces, they gave some readers permission to do the same. Today, the tone of some self-help books echoes a focus in the podcast universe on improving (or “hacking”) ourselves by fixing our diet and sleep. Influencers in the “manosphere” court listeners by urging them to make their beds, lift weights and take creatine supplements. Hosts in the “womanosphere” tell their fans to eat more protein and to let go of stress so they can improve their fertility. I asked Ingrid Clayton, the author of “Fawning,” if her anti-people-pleasing, “do less” message might have bigger social or political ramifications. “Anything can be taken to extremes — it’s certainly not in the spirit of my work,” she said. But, she admitted, “they might need to disengage in order to grow their capacity, and they can step back in when they have more agency.” What might it be if your friends are all intent on “protecting their peace”? They might see it as a tax when you call to ask for help.
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If you happen to find yourself puttering around Greenland with some time to kill, the U.S. government might want your help. That’s because America is reportedly stepping up its spy operations there, according to a report by the main public broadcaster in Denmark, which controls Greenland. Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his intention to “get” Greenland and its wealth of natural resources. But most Greenlanders want him to buzz off. Trump is trying to change that. According to the report, three Americans have gathered information and cultivated contacts as part of “covert influence operations.” One spy collated a list of Greenlanders who seem sympathetic to Trump and could be recruited into a secessionist movement; another asked Greenlanders for information that would help disparage Denmark in the media. The allegations come from anonymous sources within the Danish government, but Denmark seems to take them seriously. Within hours of the report’s publication, Denmark summoned the head of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen for a meeting. The Trump administration had no immediate comments. Related: Denmark issued a long-awaited apology to Greenland yesterday for a scandal in which Danish doctors forced birth control devices on Greenlandic women and girls.
If we allow Trump to deploy federal forces into cities that neither need nor request them, we risk a future in which those officers can be turned against any of us, Andrea Flores argues. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement was deliberately posed and probably micromanaged. It still made Jennifer Weiner happy. Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s sense of ownership. The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning. Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.
A close read: What do you see when you peer down a well? Our critic reflects on a Robert Frost poem about reflections. |
