The Phantom of the Book List
“The UK’s leading criminologist,” Professor David Wilson, kept getting one-star reviews on Amazon. Putting his investigative credentials to the test, he tracked down the culprit
Talking Dirty
A sociologist separates fact from fiction in the enduring debate over the dangers of porn
A Tendency to Court Disaster
Peter Matthiessen aspired to write the Great American Novel. His son Lucas’s posthumous memoir reads like Greek tragedy
Jackie Kennedy, on Candid Camera
Before marrying J.F.K., Jackie transformed a staid newspaper column into “the best escapist literature” in Washington
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss the story of a British airship’s deadly crash, a critique of pop culture from People magazine’s former editor, and a memoir about overcoming addiction
Trumpie Dearest
Despite containing more than 150 letters, including his correspondence with Kim Jong Un, Oprah Winfrey, and Jair Bolsonaro, Letters to Trump barely qualifies as a book
Going Viral
Ben Smith, the former BuzzFeed editor and New York Times columnist, discusses Fox’s firing of Tucker Carlson, the Gawker–Hulk Hogan scandal, and his new book on the age of disinformation, Traffic
Everyone’s Muse
In her new memoir, Jenny Boyd looks back on a life spent traveling the world with bands including Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles
Talking Trash
The author of a new essay collection about bad movies makes the case for treating trashy films like works of art
Pirates of the Peking Express
The extraordinary, little-known story of the bandits who hijacked a Chinese sleeper train full of Westerners, including a Rockefeller heiress, on its way to Beijing
All Stations Go
Two new books offer an ode to historic train stations, from Roma Termini to Venice’s floating Santa Lucia to the London Underground, and the people who passed through them
Full Blume
In an interview, Judy Blume discusses everything from J. K. Rowling to the upcoming adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Staff Picks
This week, don’t miss a veteran magazine editor’s homage to his mother, a survey of how germs have shaped history, and the story of a Bavarian village that embraced Nazism
Murder, They Wrote
This month’s best mystery books are throwbacks to different periods in American history, from the 20s to the 90s
Between Rome and Byzantium
A 40-year-old Milan Kundera essay holds the key to understanding the war in Ukraine
