The Last Laugh
Fawlty Towers could never be made today. But 47 years after it premiered, the show still perfectly captures a certain type of small-minded, social-climbing, xenophobic Englishman who is now all but extinct
Survivor, D.C. Edition
The new genre of books taking over Washington? Memoirs by Trump-administration survivors who tried to do their work in the midst of insanity
Night at the Opera
The little-known story of two British spinsters who saved dozens of Jewish musicians during World War II—and the Viennese star composer who helped them do it
Incantation
Decaying film stock, the Song of Songs, and the seraphic soprano of Angel Blue
The Goldman Years
In her memoir, a former Goldman Sachs financial analyst reckons with her two decades of short-selling stocks and enduring finance bros’ sexism
Staff Picks
Don’t miss a buoyant account of the sunken Titanic, the origin story of Manhattan’s favorite T. rex, and a search for the real “Torso Killer”
The Rise and Rise of Ziggy Stardust
Moonage Daydream is the far-out, maximalist documentary David Bowie would have wanted
Rebels with a Cause
In Gutsy, a new TV docuseries, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton traverse the globe in search of inspirational and high-achieving women, but if their tedious banter is any indication, they barely know one another
A Passage to India
Max Vadukul has spent the last few years chronicling India’s litter-and-pollution problem. The completed project goes on show this week in Milan
Never Again
With his latest epic historical documentary, Ken Burns enters a very contemporary debate
Lynn Goldsmith Has the Password
The American photographer infiltrated the world of music’s greats. Her portraits of Aretha Franklin, Cher, Bob Dylan, and countless others are collected in a new, 80s-themed coffee-table book
Reality Bites
Rumored to be the most expensive TV show of all time, Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings prequel confirms that fantasy, a once mocked and belittled genre, is now a mainstream money-spinner
Hey, Genius
Cécile McLorin Salvant sings art songs for the new 20s
A Conversation with Ken Burns
His documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust reveals old attitudes about immigration that are with us still
“Anyone Seen the Beefeater Gin Guy?”
Queen Elizabeth headed one of the world’s biggest brands. It’s only right that advertising heads of state come to mourn her
Julius Caesar takes the Big Peach
The Atlanta Opera’s Handel is anything but stuffy
