The Best Coffee-Table Books of 2025
Dazzling volumes on the Beatles, Blondie, the French New Wave, panoramic tennis courts, and palazzos, plus photography collections by Weegee and Larry Fink—and a cookbook or two
When Ulysses Came to New York
How Bennett Cerf, the co-founder of Random House and famed publisher of Eugene O’Neill and Truman Capote, brought James Joyce’s controversial novel to the U.S.
AIR MAIL’s 10 Best Mystery Books of 2025
A pub trivia night gone wrong! A post-Brexit government conspiracy! A drug-kingpin granny! And much more …
All That Jazz
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday … a new coffee-table book captures the American music scene of the 1950s with never-before-seen photographs by Lisette Model and text by Langston Hughes
AIR MAIL’s 10 Best Books of 2025
The story of the man who created Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; a bio of William F. Buckley Jr.; a revealing look inside Facebook; a slice of New York history that laid the groundwork for Zohran Mamdani; and more holiday nonfiction reading for every taste!
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss the true story of a family wilderness trip gone wrong, a re-examination of one of Britain’s most misunderstood monarchs, and an illustrated guide to Broadway
The Princess Deception Program
Thirty years on, the journalist who first broke the story of Diana’s betrayal by the BBC’s Martin Bashir reveals the true extent of the cover-up—and why her brother believes its consequences were lethal
An American in Paris
After crash-landing in occupied France during World War II, a bombardier from Jacksonville, Florida, refused rescue and joined up with the French Resistance instead
“Always Be a Yes”
How the wellness cult OneTaste turned consciousness-raising into alleged sex slavery
Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch
This month in mysteries: a detective novel that foresaw Trump’s spat with his neighbor up north, and a scintillating new season of The Diplomat
Hail, Caesar!
A new book tells the story of Sid Caesar, the often-overlooked Jewish sketch comedian who inspired everyone from Woody Allen to Conan O’Brien
The Bastard Sons of Hunter S. Thompson
In an excerpt from his memoir, the former Viacom and MTV C.E.O. recalls getting pitched by Vice’s infamous co-founder, Shane Smith
Buying Basquiat
Long before Andy Warhol, known for championing Jean-Michel Basquiat, there was Stéphane Janssen—a Belgian art collector in Beverly Hills who recognized the young artist’s genius early on
Editors’ Picks
This week, don’t miss a queer reimagining of 1970s Italian filmmaking, a biography of the “zip” painter Barnett Newman, Thomas Beller’s personal essays, and a dictionary of 2,000 ways to say “rain” in Japanese
¡Ay, Caramba!
Exile in Abu Dhabi hasn’t stopped Spain’s disgraced king, Juan Carlos I, from sounding off on “benevolent” dictator Francisco Franco, Princess Diana, and that infamous safari incident
Across the Universe
From James Baldwin to Stephen Hawking, Dublin to the Bronx, a coffee-table book collects 60 years of photographs by the social-justice advocate and artist Stephen Shames
A Family of Filmmakers
Two of Me brings Eleanor Coppola’s revelatory, 50-year diary project to a close
Ariana Harwicz
As her debut novel inspires a new thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, the Argentinean writer unveils her fifth and darkest book, Unfit
Editor’s Pick
This week, don’t miss Walter Isaacson’s deep dive into the sentence that birthed a nation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident … ”
Jeeves and the Well-Meaning Acolytes
A collection of 12 new stories about P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster—including tales by Roddy Doyle and Dominic Sandbrook—update the duo
