Murder, They Wrote
This month’s best mystery books, films, and podcasts
Let the Games Begin
A century ago, hundreds of American athletes descended upon Paris for the Summer Olympics. Booze, baguettes, brawls—and an epic Opening Ceremony—ensued
The Things We Carry with Us
On this week’s podcast, Harrison Vail reveals what your media-branded tote bag really says about you
The Oracle of Silicon Valley
A posthumous essay collection makes clear that the French philosopher René Girard foresaw 21st-century culture—and tried to warn us
Lunch with Susie Essman
On this week’s Table for Two, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star talks about working with Larry David, concocting her character’s outrageous outfits, and what it’s like to live across from a comedy club
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a biography of Ayn Rand, a murder mystery set in the Deep South, and a collection of Ernest Hemingway’s letters
Christian Louboutin’s Guide to Paris
The fashion designer and creator of the red sole shares his favorite spots in his home city
The Making of a Movement
In the 1960s and 1970s, women’s liberation transformed America. Voices from that time tell how it came to be
Kevin Costner’s Post Apocalypse
The Postman was meant to be the Oscar winner’s magnum opus—instead it became the tale of a superstar’s self-indulgence
Poster City
A new book collects a century of posters and advertisements that shaped New York City’s rise as the cultural capital of the world
The Last Days of Joan Didion
Cory Leadbeater looked after the author in her final days—and after them, too
Is Milano the New Monaco?
On this week’s podcast, Elena Clavarino reveals why being a tax exile is the new flex for the 1 percent
Clarence Maclin
In his breakout role, the formerly incarcerated actor stars alongside Colman Domingo and Paul Raci in the semi-biographical film Sing Sing
Black Sun
Gritty and glamorous, Chinatown combined the best of Old and New Hollywood
Henry Alford’s “This or That”
A pop quiz of cultural phenomena
Stranger than Fiction
Teatro Nuovo gives Carolina Uccelli’s lone surviving opera, Anna di Resburgo, a long-overdue second shot
After Auschwitz
Revisiting the posthumous 2010 stage premiere of Mieczysław Weinberg’s fierce masterpiece The Passenger
Cooked in the Books
When it comes to literary hit jobs, no public figures—from the Beckhams all the way to Mother Teresa—are safe from merciless biographers
