Jaalen Best
He took his first acting class to fill a college elective. Seven years later, the 28-year-old is stepping into the role of Muhammad Ali in a new series about the boxer, and has found a mentor in Michael B. Jordan
Arte Povera’s Feminine Force
A century after Marisa Merz’s birth, three exhibitions in Italy pay homage to the only woman in the radical art movement built on humble materials, non-commercial spaces, and ephemeral installations
How Frank Capra Got His Wings
The horrors of World War II shook the director’s faith in humanity. Making It’s a Wonderful Life restored it. An exclusive excerpt from Frank Capra
Pièces de Résistance
Ahead of the midterms, a new book of photographs by Jean-Pierre Laffont captures two decades of American defiance
Midnight in the Garden of Ghoul and Evil
A 200-year-old Louisiana plantation boasts of being among the most haunted homes in America. One skeptic checks in …
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a countertenor’s journey from Princeton to the Met; a sweeping history of wine; and the rulers and robbers who defined the ancient world
The Birth of Tom Wolfe
How a frustrated young reporter found his voice—and changed journalism forever
Sympathy for Elizabeth Holmes
Anna Delvey considers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s portrait of a fraudulent founder
A Maigret by Any Other Name
The trick to enjoying the latest incarnations of great British TV detectives? Pretend they’re entirely new characters
Crowd-Pleaser
An exhibition north of London revisits L. S. Lowry’s factories, streets, and soccer matches, paying tribute to the great chronicler of England’s interwar working-class culture
All the President’s Women
Did John F. Kennedy use his womanizing ways and countless extramarital affairs to mask his grave health issues?
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss the inconvenient truth about breakfast cereal; Dan Jones’s history of forts, castles, and bunkers; and a trip to the locations behind your favorite films
Gonzo in Paradise
When Hunter S. Thompson set out to cover the Honolulu Marathon—with a touch of cockfighting on the side—he first had to convince his old pal Ralph Steadman to join him …
Murder, They Wrote
The strange sinking of a luxury ocean liner! A train hijacking en route to London! Disasters punctuate this fall’s best mysteries…
“The Book Really Wanted to Sing All Along”
The Metropolitan Opera presents the world premiere of Lincoln in the Bardo, an operatic adaptation of the 2017 novel by George Saunders
The World According to Tina Barney
Raised among Lehmans and Paleys, the photographer didn’t pick up a camera until well into adulthood. Five decades later, an exhibition examines how her fashionable youth found its way into her groundbreaking work
Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Good Company
What’s it like to interview Larry David? The author of a new biography on the Curb Your Enthusiasm creator recalls 10 of his favorite exchanges
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a revelatory collection of Robert Frost’s letters; a history of Charlemagne’s empire; and a memoir from the producer of The Big Bang Theory
The Cincinnati Kid
An exhibition in the Queen City pays homage to the town’s favorite adopted son, Charley Harper, the nature artist who gave birds, bugs, and beasts a midcentury makeover