Don’t Call Richard Osman Cozy
The author discusses the Helen Mirren–led adaptation of his best-selling book The Thursday Murder Club, his podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment, and why he considers “cozy crime” a reductive label
“The Morandi of His Era”
An exhibition in Frankfurt honors Carl Schuch, the long-neglected 19th-century painter who is only now getting his due
Memo to POTUS
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s October Surprise
Gore Vidal at 100
“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are”
Every Child Left Behind
David Lan’s new play, about the plight of refugee children post–World War II, questions the meaning of home in a shattered world
How Jane Birkin Became the Queen of It Girls
On this week’s podcast, Joan Juliet Buck remembers the British girl who conquered Paris and how her style still influences women
Anatomy of an It Girl
How a British woman named Jane became the French bag named Birkin
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss Geoff Dyer’s memoir of growing up in postwar England, a Pulitzer-winning nature writer’s account of summers in Newfoundland, and a story of a Taoist priest visiting the Mayans
Robert Redford
At a time when our country feels like it’s on fire, it’s hard to imagine a world without the actor—and his friend Paul Newman
Maria de la Orden’s Guide to Madrid
The Spanish fashion designer and co-founder of La Veste shares her go-to spots in her hometown
Hail, the Conquering Hero
In Salzburg, the French countertenor Christophe Dumaux stuns as Handel’s Julius Caesar
Agitrons,Waftaroms, and Neoflects, Oh My!
Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s Lexicon of Comicana—a lovingly ironic send-up of comic-strip conventions—remains the gold standard, 50 years on
Downton and Out
With the last of the Downton Abbey movies in theaters, Lily James, Matthew Goode, and other cast members recall working with Maggie Smith and how Downton-mania spread across the pond
Oh, Goodness! Those Guinnesses!
Can a new Netflix series make sense of one of the most cursed families in Europe? First, let’s face facts
Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch
Two mystery books unfolding on either side of the Atlantic, and a new Maigret TV show set in present-day Paris
Passion on the Potomac
A new book hints at an affair between Jackie Kennedy and Robert McNamara spanning J.F.K.’s death, the Vietnam War, and several marriages
Matisse vs. the Nazis
Despite a teaching post in San Francisco and a visa to Rio de Janeiro, the artist chose to stay in France and pursue his “degenerate” art during W.W. II
Let Them Eat Cake!
From fans to feathers, paintings to pumps, an exhibition in London traces the evolution of Marie Antoinette’s tastes in fashion and decoration
Fawlty Reasoning
How has Fawlty Towers, one of the most offbeat, provincial, inappropriate, and heavily excoriated shows of all time, remained popular for 50 years? Nobody quite knows …
The Man Who Would Be Rockefeller
On this week’s podcast, Jonathan Alter takes us inside the story of the con man who grifted his way into the American establishment
