Viral Thinking

Bernard-Henri Lévy takes on the pandemic appeasers …

Off the Depp End

Stuart Heritage recaps this summer’s most twisted soap opera: the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard trial unfolding in London …

Counting His Marbles

Henry Alford reveals a new “very hard” cognitive test Trump might “ace” …

Rich Brother, Poor Brother

Joseph Bullmore on the strange tale of a billionaire and his sketchball sibling who spent $60 million on his daughter’s wedding …

The Sting

Jeremy Clarkson wanted to give 250,000 bees a home on his farm. Then things started buzzing …

A Classic Escape

Amanda Dardanis becomes the first person after lockdown to stay at Patrick Leigh Fermor’s breathtaking Greek-island retreat …

Issue No. 54

The View from There

By Douglas McGrath

Trump’s talent for fallibility is infallible…

Read On

Signifying Nothing The coronavirus is not here to teach humanity a lesson. Beware of its self-proclaimed interpreters

By Bernard-Henri Lévy

Read On

No-Brain Teaser A few questions that should have been on the cognitive test Trump boasts he “aced”

By Henry Alford

Read On

An Outsize Burden America’s Black elite deserve to be reckoned with on their own terms—not those created by the media

By David Christopher Kaufman

Read On

Depposition This libel trial continues to expose celebrity behavior more depraved than anything the tabloids could invent

By Stuart Heritage

Read On

I ❤️ MG A longtime collaborator recalls Milton Glaser, a giant of midcentury graphic design

By James McMullan

Read On

O Brother, Where Art Thou? A $60 million wedding, and then a big family dustup

By Joseph Bullmore

Read On

Did You Hear the Story About … Now you can listen to audio versions of some of this week’s most talked about AIR MAIL pieces

Read On

“I guess that 30-days-of-clean-eating thing you’re doing really flushes out your ability to talk about anything else.”

Liquid Assets

By Amy Fine Collins

Last winter, Tabula Rasa Dance Theater—the fledgling Manhattan-based contemporary-dance company—was rehearsing for its third season when the coronavirus lockdown hit. An ambitious spring program, Border of Lights, was canceled, the company lost crucial revenue, and 9 out of 11 dancers caught the virus. READ ON

For Liquidus, a new solo series that premiered July 25, Felipe Escalante trained his dancers to perform within the confines of their apartments. Here, Escalante is pictured during a Liquidus rehearsal.

Read On

Discover

The End or the Beginning? Anne Applebaum says democracy is in its final days. The author says, Not so fast

By Gerard DeGroot

Illustration by Ross MacDonald

Read On

The Belt Sonia Petroff As an accessories designer for Nina Ricci, Valentino, and Balmain, the Bulgarian aristocrat…

The Dress Anna Mason London Just because we can’t actually go to Positano this season doesn’t mean we won’t dress the part. After honing…

The Cleanser Augustinus Bader A combination of stress and generous sunscreen has not been especially kind to our skin. Frankly…

The Top Layer Polo Ralph Lauren Despite the postponement of 2020’s Olympic Games, Polo Ralph Lauren remains intent on supporting…

The Belt Sonia Petroff As an accessories designer for Nina Ricci, Valentino, and Balmain, the Bulgarian aristocrat…

The Dress Anna Mason London Just because we can’t actually go to Positano this season doesn’t mean we won’t dress the part. After honing…

The Cleanser Augustinus Bader A combination of stress and generous sunscreen has not been especially kind to our skin. Frankly…

The Top Layer Polo Ralph Lauren Despite the postponement of 2020’s Olympic Games, Polo Ralph Lauren remains intent on supporting…

Stung by Their Beauty Bees are earth’s keystone species. If they perish, we perish. So, what happens when you add 250,000 bees to your farm? Well, things start buzzing …

By Jeremy Clarkson

Read On

“O.K., who can tell me what he did wrong?”

The Going Is Good At 61, Kathy Valentine, the subject of a new documentary on the Go-Go’s, shows no sign of slowing down

By Andy Meek

Read On

Winds of Change New exhibitions celebrate the outsize life and work of photographer Gordon Parks as well as the artist Khadija Saye, killed in the Grenfell Tower fire at 24

By Waldemar Januszczak

5

Chronicling segregated America: Nashville, Tennessee, photographed by Gordon Parks, 1956.

Parks focused on the banal cruelties of everyday life: Alabama, 1956.

Parks captured Alabama’s poverty but also its love: Mobile, 1956.

From Shady Grove, Alabama, to Harlem, New York: photographed by Parks in 1956 and 1963.

Open-Air Revival

By James Wolcott

The coronavirus has revived the drive-in from the dead, and scores of alfresco screens are sprouting up wherever crickets gather. After all, what better, safer place to catch a film than from inside the bubble of a car? Or, for that matter, on the tranquil waters of a socially distanced boat, with perhaps a picnic basket packed? (So French.) Read On

Film with a view: on the Seine, socially distanced boats gather for the opening night of Paris Plages’ free-floating theater, Le Cinéma sur L’Eau.

Read On

Discover

Jennifer Weiner The author of In Her Shoes recommends the best books for the exercise-curious

Read On

Bryan Burrough On

The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice

by David Hill

Read On

Romesh Ratnesar On

To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq

by Robert Draper

Read On

007 Lives at No. 25 James Bond sleuths believe they have pinpointed his home in London—and discovered George Smiley was a neighbor

By David Sanderson

Read On

Watch The Vast of Night Director Andrew Patterson’s newly released feature debut, The Vast of Night, is an inventive and nostalgic…

Shield Tick Suit I’ll spare you the gory details (and locations) of the ticks I’ve found on my person this summer. But it’s…

Listen “Friday” / Decoder Ring In 2011, a 13-year-old named Rebecca Black uploaded a music video for her pop single “Friday” to YouTube…

Drive Fiat Multipla 750 Marinella A confession: as a kid, I entertained fantasies of driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile,…

Watch The Vast of Night Director Andrew Patterson’s newly released feature debut, The Vast of Night, is an inventive and nostalgic…

Shield Tick Suit I’ll spare you the gory details (and locations) of the ticks I’ve found on my person this summer. But it’s…

Listen “Friday” / Decoder Ring In 2011, a 13-year-old named Rebecca Black uploaded a music video for her pop single “Friday” to YouTube…

Drive Fiat Multipla 750 Marinella A confession: as a kid, I entertained fantasies of driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile,…

Preserve and Protect Gourmands around the world know that Bonne Maman glorifies the French tradition of jam-making. But just how does the ultra-secretive operation do it?

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

A Time of Gifts and a Place to Savor Them

Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote one of the most beautiful travel memoirs ever. Now you can stay in his inspiring Greek-island home

By Amanda Dardanis

Read On

“It walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, but personally I have my doubts.”

View on Spotify

Hotel Ritz ashtray, East End Avenue, 2020. One day in late April, I imagined I wasn’t in lockdown in my apartment but instead staying at the Ritz in Paris. So I threw an antique French linen napkin over a tray and made myself an espresso, and, voilà, I was in France for a few hours.

Is Edited By

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Julia Vitale

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Ann Schneider

Associate Editors

Elena Clavarino Clementine Ford Alex Oliveira Elinor Schneider

Columnists

Cazzie David Emma Freud Walter Isaacson
Pico Iyer John Lahr Richard David Story
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bill Cohan Rich Cohen Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner Alexandra Marshall

International Editor

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Chief Operating Officer

Bill Keenan

Chief Marketing Officer

Emily Davis

Brand Partnerships

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Sales Director

Michael Pescuma

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Integrated Marketing Manager

Madeline Spates

Signifying Nothing The coronavirus is not here to teach humanity a lesson. Beware of its self-proclaimed interpreters

No-Brain Teaser A few questions that should have been on the cognitive test Trump boasts he “aced”

An Outsize Burden America’s Black elite deserve to be reckoned with on their own terms—not those created by the media

Depposition This libel trial continues to expose celebrity behavior more depraved than anything the tabloids could invent

I ❤️ MG A longtime collaborator recalls Milton Glaser, a giant of midcentury graphic design

O Brother, Where Art Thou? A $60 million wedding, and then a big family dustup

Did You Hear the Story About … Now you can listen to audio versions of some of this week’s most talked about AIR MAIL pieces

The End or the Beginning? Anne Applebaum says democracy is in its final days. The author says, Not so fast

ONLINE

LONDON

Washington, D.C.

Litchfield

PARIS

Stung by Their Beauty Bees are earth’s keystone species. If they perish, we perish. So, what happens when you add 250,000 bees to your farm? Well, things start buzzing …

The Going Is Good At 61, Kathy Valentine, the subject of a new documentary on the Go-Go’s, shows no sign of slowing down

Winds of Change New exhibitions celebrate the outsize life and work of photographer Gordon Parks as well as the artist Khadija Saye, killed in the Grenfell Tower fire at 24

Jennifer Weiner The author of In Her Shoes recommends the best books for the exercise-curious

007 Lives at No. 25 James Bond sleuths believe they have pinpointed his home in London—and discovered George Smiley was a neighbor

Preserve and Protect Gourmands around the world know that Bonne Maman glorifies the French tradition of jam-making. But just how does the ultra-secretive operation do it?

Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote one of the most beautiful travel memoirs ever. Now you can stay in his inspiring Greek-island home

Is Edited By

Deputy Editors

Design Director

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Style Editor

Features Editor

Senior Editor

Photo Director

Associate Editors

Columnists

Writers at Large

International Editor

London Editor

Communications Director

Social Media Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Photo Editor

Production Editor

Intern

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Marketing Officer

Brand Partnerships

Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Integrated Marketing Manager