The Cuteness Curse
There’s a thin line between cuddly and creepy, according to a new exhibition at Somerset House in London
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a biography of a pioneering classicist, a reissued novel about a secret World War II mission, and an account of the Russian Civil War
Dominique Morisseau
The Tony-nominated playwright on how her father, a Haitian revolutionary, inspired her familial drama Sunset Baby
Extra Credit
Highly competitive, Da’Vine Joy Randolph transitioned seamlessly from Yale University drama student to opera singer, and now to Oscar nominee, for her masterful performance in The Holdovers
Review Bombers
The influential, Amazon-owned Web site Goodreads has been infiltrated by scammers and trolls extorting authors and destroying careers—largely targeting Black and L.G.B.T.Q.+ writers. So what now?
Another Universe
A new production of Nelken stays true to the late choreographer Pina Bausch’s innovative work of dance theater
Faces for Radio
In the Know, Peacock’s stop-motion send-up of the public-radio set, is modeled on the NPR boobs you know and love
The Mahabharata of Literary Festivals
Forget glitchy microphones and cheap white wine. The Jaipur Literature Festival is the biggest and best of its kind in the world
What Happens When a Nepo Baby Makes a Movie?
This week, Stuart Heritage looks at Lola, a film by David Beckham’s daughter-in-law
Harsh Realities
A first look at Nicola Peltz-Beckham’s directorial debut, Lola—which leaves much to be desired
Live from Laurel Canyon
A new book of photographs by Henry Diltz chronicles the story of the band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, America’s own Beatles
Vivaldi In His Element
Il Giustino lands at Stockholm’s Drottningholm Court Theater
Outside the Map
How George Kennan’s excellent prose opened doors for all types of writing, from war reporting to investigative work in Russia
The Question of Violence
Hamas’s October 7 attack has made a new biography of Frantz Fanon, the formidable and incendiary theorist of decolonization, all too timely
Beyond the Friends Zone
In the 90s, Jennifer Aniston achieved the unimaginable: becoming TV’s top star and ensuring equal pay with her male colleagues. Then she became the poster child for childless women
A Very, Very British Scandal
On this week’s podcast: inside the worst miscarriage of justice in the history of the U.K.
Back from the Dead
The celebrated Nadia Boulanger’s La Ville Morte surfaces in Athens, then in New York
Kai Alexander
The English actor endured boot camp to play a World War II air-force pilot in Masters of the Air, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s new series