Staff Picks
Don’t miss a comedic cancer memoir from Delia Ephron; chronicles of a man retracing the steps of Alexander the Great; and the tale of an impostor journalist
Forgetting Sarah Palin
While trying to understand the current Republican Party, most journalists have ignored the woman who foreshadowed Donald Trump
Enter the Beaux-Arts
A new book highlights the gilded Beaux-Arts architecture of turn-of-the-last-century New York City
The Man Who Invented Movies
While Thomas Edison is widely known as “the father of motion pictures,” a Frenchman by the name of Louis Le Prince actually got there first—and then disappeared
Staff Picks
Don’t miss an investigation into the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting; a new biography of Harry Truman; and a Broadway memoir
Books and a Place to Read Them
From the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op, an ode to the quiet magic of independent bookshops around the country
Brainspotting
The world-renowned neurologist A. J. Lees is on a mission to humanize doctors
“Hold It Right There … ”
With a devoted following among the fashion crowd—and a girlfriend in Kate Moss—Nikolai von Bismarck is London’s photographer of the moment
Murder, They Wrote
Stormy weather plays a central role in this month’s best mystery novels. Plus, revisiting one of the first-ever police procedurals
War Songs
During 1973’s Yom Kippur War, an unexpected ally joined the front lines to boost Israeli soldiers’ morale: Leonard Cohen
Tour de Force
Charles Dickens highlighted Americans’ most unappealing habits (bad table manners) and practices (slavery). So why haven’t Republicans gone after him?
Boeuf Neanderthal!
In an excerpt from Martin Walker’s new “Bruno” story collection, the quintessential Frenchman experiments with prehistoric food and wine
The High and Low
By day, Miriam Leslie was a titan of publishing and the perfect model of the Victorian lady. By night, she was the seductress behind a memorable ménage à trois
L.A. Confidential
From briefing Si Newhouse to smoking with Seth Rogen and Danny McBride, a former Vanity Fair editor looks back at the Oscar parties of yore
Collector’s Edition
In a posthumous essay and drawings, the illustrator Pierre Le-Tan reflects on the art—and sport—of collecting
