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
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
Pfizer v. Trump
Inside Pfizer’s high-stakes coronavirus-vaccine trials and Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine them
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.
The Last Reveal
With magician Ricky Jay’s personal collection of curiosities up for auction, the sideshow is the main event
Goop Sex
Armed with a new Netflix series and an arsenal of vibrators, Gwyneth Paltrow invades the bedroom
Bland. James Bland
In No Time to Die, 007 is defeated … by the wokes
The Man Who Spawned Logan Roy
Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession, reveals his thoughts on the new season—and answers his critics
Game Changer
Jung Ho-yeon has become the breakout star of Squid Game, and the new face of South Korea
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
When Trump Trumps Logic
Books on Donald Trump’s narcissism, by Michael Wolff, and financial misdeeds, by David Cay Johnston, sound a familiar alarm. Will people listen?
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
Opera Pick of the Week
What’s better, sex or salvation? Tannhäuser, Wagner’s schizophrenic singer of courtly love songs, simply cannot decide
Faulty-Hearts Club
How Baby Fae, the 1980s infant who survived for several days with a baboon heart, paved the way for innovative new approaches to organ donation
