Collecting Intelligence
The author and friend of John le Carré’s, whose radio tribute to the espionage writer is out now, traces the arc of le Carré through his most memorable books
Dial M for Mail
If Alfred Hitchcock contained multitudes, his films contained infinitudes in the eyes of his viewers, who wrote him too many letters to count
Dogs—They’re Just Like Us!
Before quarantine puppies, there were Magnum dogs, photogenic canines immortalized alongside their owners by Philippe Halsman, Inge Morath, and others
Do You Believe in Magic?
A new book argues that some of the most astonishing findings in social science are little more than smoke and mirrors
One Part Instinct, Two Parts Grit
Sharon Stone discusses sexism in Hollywood, the plastic surgery she didn’t agree to, and a near fistfight with Basic Instinct co-star Michael Douglas
Off the Wall
The photographer Horst A. Friedrichs celebrates the magic of independent booksellers and the volumes on their shelves, from the Strand to Shakespeare and Company
Post-Nature
Eight Questions with Nathaniel Rich, the novelist and author of Losing Earth, whose new book contemplates a return to the world we’ve ruined
Re-writing History
Antony Beevor is trading the page for the screen, joining forces with Ridley Scott for a wide-ranging series on W.W. II’s final year
Frankenthaler and Me
Searching for Helen Frankenthaler gets personal for an author whose past is intertwined with that of the great American artist
Notes from Under the Sheets
Tracing the pre–Crime and Punishment love affair of Dostoevsky and Polina Suslova, a young, dazzling Russian radical
Artists in Action
Soviet Russia meets Weimar Germany in these avant-garde posters and drawings of the early 20th century, a gift to MoMA from the Merrill C. Berman Collection
Said and Done
Edward Said managed to popularize the idea of a Palestinian state in the Reagan years. His biographer reveals the charm behind the chutzpah
Reverse Migration
Eight questions with Charles M. Blow, the author and New York Times op-ed columnist whose new book is a call to action for Black Americans to move South
Bad Boy Bacon
Francis Bacon’s emergence onto the London social scene—including the time he humiliated Princess Margaret—was as controversial as his paintings
The Dread Pirate Drake
Sir Francis Drake’s biographer traces the 16th-century explorer’s legacy in London, at sea, and beyond
Dressing Ratso
What would Midnight Cowboy be without Dustin Hoffman in his creased white suit?
