What You Said About …

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ELECTION 2016

Massimo Calabresi’s July 31 cover story on President Obama’s secret plan to safeguard the 2016 presidential election from Russian hackers was “fascinating,” said Univision anchor Enrique Acevedo. “I read every word,” said Linda V. Bartles of Fort Worth. The feature convinced Marilyn Leviton of Northridge, Calif., and Danny Wilson of San Diego that it’s not safe to store voting results and voter information online. Any resulting inconvenience, Wilson wrote, “would be a small price to pay for the increased peace of mind.” And Justin Hendrix of Brooklyn, who tweeted that the article was “terrifying,” explained why he believes it’s so important to address any doubts about election security: “Confidence in our elections is confidence in democracy.”

THE UNITED PATIENTS OF AMERICA

TIME’s July 24 feature on how parents of sick or disabled kids are bridging political divides to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid, written by Charlotte Alter and Haley Sweetland Edwards, elicited strong responses from Americans who work with such families on a daily basis. James Czadek, a Medicaid eligibility worker in Long Beach, Calif., thanked TIME for telling the story of the people who represent a “good portion of my caseload,” and expressed his respect for patients like those in the article “because of the love they have for their child and the strength they demonstrate.” Laura Barnett, a speech-language pathologist from Sandy, Utah, delivered a “high five from all my little patients” for cutting through “the political posturing.” But Adam P. Newman of Decatur, Ga., who studies portrayals of disabilities in literature, tweeted that he wished the article also featured the voices of the many activists working on this issue who are themselves disabled.

STRONG WOMEN

In preparation for the new spy thriller Atomic Blonde–starring Charlize Theron, profiled on page 46, as an MI6 agent–TIME traced how the female action hero has evolved over the past 40 years. The rundown covers Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars (above, center), Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien (above, second from right) and many more. See the full list at time.com/female-heroes

NEW PODCAST

In Countdown, TIME editor at large Jeffrey Kluger–who co-wrote the book that inspired the movie Apollo 13 and whose new book Apollo 8 tells the story of the first mission to the moon–recounts the 10 most harrowing space missions. Download the first episode, about Apollo 10, at time.com/countdown

Back in TIME

The Prisoners Return, Feb. 19, 1973

This week TIME looks at Americans held captive overseas (page 30), a subject explored in this story about POWs returning from Vietnam. Each family “made its own accommodations,” the story noted, as “women learned to live with the experience of being neither wives nor widows.” Read the full article at time.com/vault

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