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David Downton’s Sketchbook

Owning the Lits

Fringe scholars have long argued that Shakespeare wasn’t really Shakespeare. So why has it suddenly become an article of faith among young conservatives?

DeSantis Campaign Contributors

He reportedly raised more than $8 million within 24 hours of announcing his candidacy for president. Just who the hell is giving Ron DeSantis all this money?

The Show Won’t Go On

A screenwriter’s dispatch from the Writers Guild of America picket line

Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook

Unto Us a Child Is Born

At the National Theatre, The Book of Dust is a lite prequel to His Dark Materials

Spring Migration

The Ghanian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey brings an iteration of his “Afrogallonism” series to the Venice Architecture Biennale

The Name’s Bond … Woke Bond

In an interview, Charlie Higson discusses his new Bond novel and how he adapts the womanizing spy for our times

Editor’s Picks

This week, don’t miss David Remnick’s collected profiles of musicians, a new biography of Martin Luther King Jr., and the story of two poets’ wartime friendship

The Not-So-Nice Saint

Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s savior. His private life was another story

Dad Jokes

The best thing on the Internet just may be Michael Keaton’s Instagram account

The War That Never Ended

Fifty years after the last American troops left, Vietnam is thriving. The U.S., meanwhile, is still dealing with the aftermath—unconsciously or not

Eminently Ridiculous

The Final Countdown

In an interview, the historian Evan Thomas discusses how Russian spies, Harry Truman’s denial, and an immunity to writer’s block played into his new book, on the last days of W.W. II

Hidden Gems

For decades, Anne Eisenhower, the granddaughter of President Eisenhower, collected rare and magnificent jewelry. Now it’s going up for auction at Christie’s

Lee Friedlander, Framed

Collaborating with the cinematic photographer, the filmmaker Joel Coen is staging shows of Friedlander’s work on both coasts

What Went Down Inside Our Cannes Party

On this week’s podcast, the skinny on the big bash, Michael Keaton’s dad-tastic IG, and … N.Y.C. rats!

Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook

Clash of the Traumas

I Don’t Know How She Does It

Sally Wainwright, the creator of the hit British crime drama Happy Valley, captures the female experience like no other

A Summer Odyssey

Emma Cline has communed with the Manson family and channeled Harvey Weinstein. For her new novel, she infiltrates the Hamptons

Addressing the Rat in the Room

It’s time the humans of New York City made a good-faith effort to understand their four-legged neighbors

David Downton’s Sketchbook

Down to Earth