Lifting the Veil
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which dramatizes the ongoing turmoil in Iran, is itself an act of protest
Concrete Jungles
From Marcel Breuer’s early modernist designs to Le Corbusier’s pocket gardens, two new books speak to the enduring allure of brutalism
Rare Bird, Bass Division
Peixin Chen’s amazing journey from Inner Mongolia to the great lyric stages of the West
The Rare Eccentricity of Isabella Rossellini
Daughter of Ingrid Bergman, face of Lancôme, and now a farmer, the Italian actress reflects on the unexpected joys of aging and being nepo-baby royalty
How to Write like Harlan Coben
The best-selling author shares the tricks he uses to craft a page-turner—from conjuring up villains to landing the big ending
Hamlet in Lockdown
How Sir Ian McKellen spent (part of) his pandemic
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a history of George Frideric Handel’s popular Christmas oratorio, an examination of old age in America, and an artist’s collection of stories and paintings
Nina Johnson’s Guide to Miami
The gallerist shares her favorite spots in her home city
The Towering Bobby Short
For 36 years there was no more quintessential New York experience than seeing Bobby Short perform at the Café Carlyle
Notes from Underground
Keinemusik’s catchy brand of house music has attracted everyone from bankers to groupies. But is the German D.J. trio anything more than a status symbol?
The Diva’s Tragedy
Maria Callas’s life was marked by poverty, drugs, cheating billionaires, and tabloid uproar. Can Angelina Jolie, who plays the opera singer in a new biopic, find the humanity amid the chaos?
Giant Girls Don’t Cry
Edna Ferber’s great-niece pulls back the curtain on the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer’s personal life—and the sacrifices she made for her craft
The Decline and Fall of the Campus Novel
Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, and Tom Sharpe used universities as their preferred vehicle for satire. But are modern colleges too ridiculous to parody?
The Highs and Heartbreaks of Living in New York City
On this week’s podcast, we look at Bobby Short at 100 and the end of En Japanese Brasserie
Lunch with Isabella Rossellini
On this week’s episode of Table for Two, the Conclave actress discusses thinness and adjusting her definition of elegance as she gets older
Payal Kapadia
The first female Indian director to win Cannes’s Grand Prix discusses her childhood in Mumbai and her film All We Imagine as Light
America’s Sweethearts
A new coffee-table book presents a visual history of the United States from the 1940s to today, courtesy of Magnum photographers
Monochrome Mystique
In Lyon, three paintings of Saint Francis by the 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán are shown together for the first time, alongside historic and contemporary works
Dominique Ansel’s Guide to New York
The French pastry chef shares his favorite specialty food stores in his adopted city
The Exploding Archival Inevitable
Paul Morrissey—overseer of Andy Warhol’s Factory, manager of the Velvet Underground, and cult director—saved everything. AIR MAIL takes an exclusive look
