Agitrons,Waftaroms, and Neoflects, Oh My!
Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s Lexicon of Comicana—a lovingly ironic send-up of comic-strip conventions—remains the gold standard, 50 years on
The Chairman in Profile
Gay Talese and Edward Sorel, the writer and illustrator of “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” on the origins, aftermath, and eventual sanctification of the greatest profile in magazine history
Downton and Out
With the last of the Downton Abbey movies in theaters, Lily James, Matthew Goode, and other cast members recall working with Maggie Smith and how Downton-mania spread across the pond
Oh, Goodness! Those Guinnesses!
Can a new Netflix series make sense of one of the most cursed families in Europe? First, let’s face facts
Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch
Two mystery books unfolding on either side of the Atlantic, and a new Maigret TV show set in present-day Paris
Passion on the Potomac
A new book hints at an affair between Jackie Kennedy and Robert McNamara spanning J.F.K.’s death, the Vietnam War, and several marriages
On the Basis of Sexuality
The little-known story of the gay Black Korean War veteran who sued the state of Florida in 1961 for firing him due to his sexuality—and won
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a look into the year that defined World War II, a children’s book about Indian cuisine, and a biography of an American nature writer
Maria Veerasamy’s Guide to Stockholm
The C.E.O. of the Swedish interior design company Svenskt Tenn shares her favorite spots in her adopted city
Spark of Genius
Muriel Spark, one of the most admired British novelists of the 20th century, led a mystically charged life that uncannily melded fact and fiction
Darling, Death Becomes You!
On this week’s podcast, a look at how funerals have become a scene for the new social climbing
Renaissance Woman
In Milan, Italy’s first-ever Leonora Carrington show traces the influence of the country’s old masters on the British-Mexican Surrealist
The Bard of Britain
At 77, Ian McEwan hopes to be remembered for more than Atonement
The Unlikely Rise and Inevitable Fall of Vice
Once hailed as the “Millennial CNN,” Vice rode hipster shock journalism to a $5.7 billion valuation—before hubris, big business, and the fleeting currency of cool brought it all crashing down
A Lighter Shade of Darren Aronofsky
His movies—Black Swan, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream—are notoriously heavy. But the director’s latest, Caught Stealing, is a romp around the East Village of the 1990s
Ken Follett’s World Without End
The Welsh thriller author on producing such a vast archive—and the lure of Stonehenge, the subject of his latest book
Mrs. Dalloway at 100
A century on, Virginia Woolf’s breakthrough novel remains modern
Runner-up
The 107 Days that shook Kamala Harris
