2026-04-02
6 分钟The Economist.
Hi, John Prudeau here.
I host Checks and Balance, our podcast on US politics.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
Here's an article from the latest edition of The Economist, handpicked by our team and read aloud.
I hope you enjoy it.
But what is a child between injured parents?
Wrote Edna O'Brien, an Irish novelist.
Only a weapon.
The arsenal, by that definition, is vast.
In America, nearly a third of children will see their parents divorce before they turn 18.
The share of American children living in single-parent divorced households
is almost five times higher than it was in 1960.
In Britain, nearly a quarter of children live with single parents,
though far fewer adults are divorced because they 're more likely to have children without marrying first.
Divorce is one of the biggest social transformations of the past century.
Instead of telling human history in the way others might, selecting a famous war or revolution, Lara Feigl,
a professor at King's College London, opts for a different sort of conflict-ridden setting, the courtroom.
There are winners and losers here, and the child is the prize, she writes.
Ostensibly, Ms Feigl's subject is The Secret History of Mothers.