Ascending the Art World
The son of British adventurer Bear Grylls swaps Everest for oil paintings
What If …
WeWork’s flamed-out founder, Adam Neumann, were made head of the World Bank?
Soul Stirrers
Tracks to turn on your love-light and give you a soulful strut, from Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Katie Webster, P. P. Arnold, and more
Gen Z and the Great WFH Revolt of 2021
What happens when offices reopen and no one shows up?
Opera Pick of the Week
From Boston Lyric Opera in a bicoastal partnership with Long Beach Opera, the game-changing miniseries Desert In
Comstock’s Ghost
Anthony Comstock spent his life trying to curb women’s rights. His traumatic history makes his mission all the more bizarre—and perverse
Short List
What to read this week, including books on J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, and Roy Cohn; the virtues of forgetting; and the life of Rob Sedgwick
Good-bye, Blake Bailey
Book-industry insiders are coming down on both sides of the Blake Bailey–Philip Roth controversy, which resulted in the pulping of Bailey’s Roth bio
Opera Pick of the Week
In Lo Schiavo, Verdi’s forgotten Brazilian disciple tackles colonialism, South American style
The Good, the Bach, and the Ugly
Playwright Nina Raine unpicks the difficult personality of the 18th-century composer
When David Met Carmen
An alluring new book explores the relationship between two fashion luminaries
Songs with Atmosphere
A selection of 14 songs that defy description
