Flipping the Godfather Script
Mario Puzo was an avid gambler, novelist, and pizza eater. But there was one department where he could use some help: screenwriting
A Podcast Full of Treats (and a Few Tricks)
From Kylie Jenner’s “swimsuits” to a zombie hotel, we’ve got it all this week
Opera Pick of the Week
Love hurts in Jenůfa, Leoš Janáček’s tragedy from the hinterlands of Moravia, brought to thrilling life at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London
Risky Business
The notorious Jazz Age madam Polly Adler played hostess to every gangster, politician, and writer of the Roaring 20s—even, she once claimed, to F.D.R.
Pfizer v. Trump
Inside Pfizer’s high-stakes coronavirus-vaccine trials and Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine them
Changing His Tune
Noël Coward was many things—a playwright, an actor, a filmmaker. The editor of a new collection of his writings explores another one of his talents
Staff Picks
This week, don’t miss a history of Christians in the Middle East; the Howard brothers’ tell-all; and a memoir from the man who edited Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton
The Last Reveal
With magician Ricky Jay’s personal collection of curiosities up for auction, the sideshow is the main event
Bland. James Bland
In No Time to Die, 007 is defeated … by the wokes
Rue du Petit
Rejoice in life’s cryptic moments with this soundtrack from Jackson Browne, Dolly Parton, Jim James, Aisha Badru, and more
Glory Edim
The writer and entrepreneur behind the Well-Read Black Girl volume, book club, and festival has started a literary movement for Black women
Dior Dreaming
Accompanying an exhibition on Christian Dior at New York’s Brooklyn Museum, an elegant volume spans the many iterations of the French fashion house
A Podcast You Can’t Refuse
There’s no omertà here … just lots of revealing information
The Godfather of The Godfather
How Mario Puzo turned his gambling addiction and fruitful imagination into the best Mob story of all time
