A Legacy of Spies
The case of the Russian spy Robert Hanssen has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” Many years on, the risk of espionage is just as high
Risky Business
Pulitzer Prize–winning war correspondent Ray Bonner always had a taste for trouble, but he just took on his most dangerous assignment yet: he bought a bookstore in Australia
Gen Z Finds Its Wise Man
How did Ryan Holiday, a former marketing executive in rural Texas, become the go-to philosopher for these times?
Staff Picks
Don’t miss the history behind the Kentucky Derby anthem; a biography of the philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville; and a dazzling look at Renaissance altarpieces
Guardian Angel
In the 19th century, Caroline Norton campaigned for mothers to have legal rights to their own children. She secured them for others—but not for herself
Meet You at Mortimer’s
A new book revisits the mid-70s heyday of Mortimer’s restaurant, which played host to everyone from Jackie O and Nancy Reagan to Liz Smith and Mick Jagger
When Marilyn Went British
In a 1956 trip to England, Marilyn Monroe sowed the seeds of divorce with Arthur Miller, battled with Laurence Olivier on set, and snagged an audience with the Queen
Diary of a Somebody
When Anne Frank’s father published her diaries, they inspired awe, criticism, and lawsuits. Seventy-five years later, they’re still the center of controversy
Talking in Riddles
A collection of 95 medieval riddles has left scholars scratching their heads—and clutching their pearls
Staff Picks
Don’t miss the epic story of a search for a missing canoer; an insider’s look at Italian life; and a re-assessment of 20th-century classical music
Once upon a Time in Hollywood
In the course of their brief, intense marriage, Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward lit the match for a cultural explosion in 1960s Los Angeles
Herbie Fully Loaded
In an excerpt from his new book, the author remembers unleashing his father, a well-known negotiator, on a professor he hated
Practice Makos Perfect
Christopher Makos showed Andy Warhol how to use his first camera. He also cemented Warhol’s existence as the personification of the “American brand”
Touching Base
The effect of Jackie Robinson on the lives of average Americans of color is well documented. But he was instrumental for other baseball players of color, too
Staff Picks
Don’t miss a biography of the American painter Winslow Homer; a little-told story about Benjamin Franklin; and a memoir turned meditation on books
Spires, Squires, and Liars
A contemporary of Boris Johnson’s and Dominic Cummings’s traces Brexit, and the state of politics in Britain today, back to 1980s Oxford
Murder, They Wrote
Tragic beauties dominate this month’s best mystery novels—as well as a 1946 noir classic
