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Bugsy Siegel, Thespian

The notorious mobster behind the modernization of the Las Vegas Strip had a hidden ambition: to become a Hollywood star

Con Artistes

Time Regained

Publishing next month, the long-lost writings of Marcel Proust promise a window into the mind and work of the French writer

Murder, They Wrote

Beyond “Dead White Men in Periwigs”

The Real Thing?

Life in the Portal

Heart of Darkness

It was only after Robert Maxwell’s death that the world realized how far his criminality extended. Yet the riddle surrounding his final moments endures

The Victorian John and Yoko

Sounds of Silence

A collection of photographs captures the calm that has given Venice room to breathe and its treasures a chance to shine during the coronavirus pandemic

His Younger and More Vulnerable Years

Record High

How did Warner Bros. Records land the Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, and Prince?

David Mamet

With theaters shut, read what the playwrights are reading. In Mamet’s case, this means William Bolitho (introduced to him by Shel Silverstein), Christopher Hollis, and Pierre Berton

Ere Erdogan

All in the Family

Like his daughter Ghislaine, the notorious British media baron Robert Maxwell was a monster. How did it all start?

Heroes and Villains

Stan Lee’s final days were as tragic and conflict-filled as his career was momentous. The comic-book legend’s biographer reveals the roots of his undoing

Future Shock

Eight questions with Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction, whose new book contemplates the earth’s precarious future

Captain Crook

City of Dreams

Scaling Mount Whitman

Through years of research and introspection, an author asks, How did Walt Whitman write the poetry that we remember him by?

Spy Games

Rivals on the Rails

The Grip of the Grape

Ripley’s Match

Richard Bradford’s new biography of Patricia Highsmith evokes a flawed genius who bridged crime writing and high literature