The Absurd, Redefined
Was Albert Camus offed by a K.G.B. kill squad? (Probably not)
Adam Hugill
The 23-year-old went from training camp in Yorkshire to acting in Sam Mendes’s 1917. Now Hugill stars in BBC America’s The Watch
Fran Lebowitz Has a Few Things to Say …
The inimitable New Yorker on lockdown, Trump, outdoor dining, and more
The Masculine Mystique
Everyone wants a piece of Harry Styles
Downton Drabby
In a new podcast, the Duchess of Rutland confirms there’s more to being aristocratic than shooting weekends and idle gossip
O Comrade, My Comrade!
This year’s Russian entry to the Oscars dramatizes a Soviet-era industrial-workers’ strike turned infamous massacre
The Good Earth
Stay grounded with songs from Tracy Chapman, John Denver, Bill Withers, and more
Island in the Stream
Rapa Nui native Mahani Teave learned to play the piano on her island’s only instrument. Here, an interview with the classical pianist
Opera Pick of the Week
The Metropolitan Opera’s 1983 production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, starring Jessye Norman as Cassandra
Scaling Mount Whitman
Through years of research and introspection, an author asks, How did Walt Whitman write the poetry that we remember him by?
Good Grief
New exhibitions spotlight the work of Anselm Kiefer and Berlinde de Bruyckere, artists evoking the pain and mourning of today
My Ever Changing Moods
Songs for mutable minds, from Marvin Gaye, Seu Jorge, Frank Ocean, the Kinks, and more
Are You One of “the Smug Vaccinated”?
Alessandra Stanley discusses the new haves and have-nots: those who’ve gotten the shot, and those scheming on how to jump the line
75 Years of Ebony
Magazine covers spanning 1945 to today celebrate the community that gave us Jackie Robinson, M.L.K., Aretha Franklin, and Oprah
Grand Illusions
Inside the world of social-media influencers, where likes are worth cash, followers can be bought, and anyone can be famous
Ripley’s Match
Richard Bradford’s new biography of Patricia Highsmith evokes a flawed genius who bridged crime writing and high literature
