The Mouths of Babes
Imagine Lucy from “Peanuts” with the politics of John Lennon and you’ve got “Mafalda,” a comic strip whose millions of fans included Gabriel García Márquez
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a provocative history of World War II atrocities, an investigation into pyramid schemes, and a foray into the ruins of Pompeii
The Missing Sister
Before #FreeBritney, there was Aimee Semple McPherson—an influential radio evangelist who fell victim to an abusive conservatorship
The Pathological Ironist
Percival Everett, whose novel James won the Pulitzer Prize this month, talks Trump, Twain, and fighting darkness with humor
Getting Lit
Literary salons are making a comeback in London, where live readings—complete with D.J.’s—are eclipsing nightclubs
The G-Man Writes Again
Former F.B.I. director James Comey on working for George W. Bush and Barack Obama; advice for the current director, Kash Patel; and the art of his second act: writing thrillers
Hollywood in Bloom
From Come September to Love in the Afternoon, a look at the film industry’s most memorable celebrations of spring
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a new boxed set of Jane Austen’s novels, an account of the fabled 1917 sighting of the Virgin Mary in Portugal, and a portrait of the Roman poet Horace
The Man Behind the Mustache
Ron Chernow discusses adapting his Hamilton biography into the hit musical, how to cure writer’s block, and the complicated, thrilling subject of his latest book: Mark Twain
Eighties Mania!
From the eruption of Mount Saint Helens to the rise of Madonna, Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and shoulder pads, two new books capture the bold, anarchic spirit of the decade
The Mean Girls Next Door
How Tina Fey turned a self-help manual for anxious mothers into the quintessential teen movie of the early aughts
The People’s Mother
From McDonald’s to Disneyland, mums’ races, and school drop-offs, no aspect of Princess Diana’s identity was more heavily scrutinized than her role as a mother to William and Harry
The Writer and the Spy
How a journalist and a god-fearing F.B.I. agent partnered up to tell the true story of going undercover in America’s most dangerous neo-Nazi group
Deadly Pleasures to Watch and Read
A new book and high-profile TV series paying tribute to Agatha Christie, and more
Frank Fournier’s New York
A portfolio of the French photographer’s 1970s Technicolor pictures hearkens back to a city steeped in danger, decay, and unbridled creative freedom
Ireland’s Literary Femme Fatale
The James Bond producer remembers Edna O’Brien, the pioneering writer whose books were once banned for their depictions of female sexuality
An Ode to the Humble Paperback
From Lady Chatterley’s Lover to Bright Lights, Big City to A Little Life, books that were better the next time around