The Poet’s Premiums
Wallace Stevens was a successful insurance executive by day and a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet by night—but his letters reveal he had existential doubts about the trade-off
The Pleasure Gardens of London
Forget the candlelit ballrooms of Jane Austen novels—partying in 18th-century London meant water taxis, drunken aristocrats, and enough pyrotechnics to level Pompeii
Some Like It Sleek
Clean lines, open plans, boxy silhouettes … a new coffee-table book traces how the eastern tip of Long Island became the proving ground for American modernism
Pulp It Up
Fresh off last summer’s chart-topping More—their first release in two decades—a newly re-united Pulp, the Brit-pop heroes behind “Common People,” return to London to perform the album in its entirety for the first time
Bubba Weiler
His debut play made it Off Broadway; now, for his second act, the emerging star of New York’s downtown theater scene is reaching back to his small-town Catholic roots
Grand Lutetia Hotel
How a Paris hotel that once hosted Hemingway and Picasso became a home for anti-Nazi exiles, German intelligence officers, and, finally, concentration-camp survivors
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Turns 40
Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck recall the making of a teen classic
The Length of Trump’s Fingers—Revealed!
Graydon Carter has been calling Trump a “short-fingered vulgarian” for decades. Now, at last, the measurements are in
An Unhealthy Dose of Skepticism
How a handful of housewives dedicated to debunking the official account of the J.F.K. assassination unwittingly ushered in the age of the conspiracy theorist—from 9/11 truthers to One Direction’s “Larry” stans
Randall Poster’s America 250 Playlist
Ritchie Valens, Paul Simon (who else?), Los Lobos, Dr. John, and more
Naval Gazing
Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Jack Nicholson … As Fleet Week returns to New York, a look back at the sailors who have stolen our hearts since the 1930s
The Odd Couple of American Art
When Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth met in the late 1960s, the king of Pop art and the heir to America’s first family of painting struck up an unlikely friendship that would carry them from Chadds Ford to Monte Carlo
The Revolutionary Spirits
America’s Founding Fathers were fueled by a belief in liberty, democracy, and self-determination—and, as a new book points out, extraordinary amounts of rum
John Derian’s Guide to Provincetown
The “King of Decoupage” shares his go-to spots in the Massachusetts beach town
Murder, They Wrote
Three psychological thrillers show how a life in the arts can get more brutal than a U.F.C. match—especially when a love triangle is involved
