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Valley of Tears


It’s not surprising that some of the best Israeli television shows focus on either war (Fauda, Prisoners of War) or religion (Shtisel). Set at the outset of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Valley of Tears serves as an Israeli version of Band of Brothers. The 10 episodes depict Israel’s greatest existential crisis to date through a few of the soldiers who fought in it, a close-up on a war that took Israel by surprise on Yom Kippur and that, to this day, is not well understood by those who didn’t live through it. On the Golan Heights, where the show’s heroes are stationed, Syria is the invading enemy, but Valley of Tears also underlines some of the fault lines within Israeli society, including the friction between Ashkenazi Jews, who came from Europe, and the Sephardim, who mostly came from Arab countries and were often treated as second-class citizens. In 1973, many of them fought bravely side by side but not always with brotherly love. (hbomax.com) —Alessandra Stanley

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Modern English


When it comes to eye-filling illustrated books on interior design, whether it’s the work of one person or a collection of many visions, nobody does it better than Vendome. This fall, a particularly special offering is Modern English: Todhunter Earle Interiors. We Yanks think we know the English look. Taking cues from Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey, we imagine a chinoiserie bedroom, a green baize door, spartan servants’ quarters, bellpulls, and footmen. Emily Todhunter and Kate Earle, who started their esteemed firm in 1998, bring us up to date. Modern, they write, “is synonymous with an understanding of everyday life today.” So, yes, they bring deep English-y undercurrents to their work—restraint that summons Jane Austen; curtained window seats straight out of Jane Eyre—but their backgrounds in philosophy, psychology, and art push them to take a fresh approach to proportions, flow, the “feel” of a room. The book looks at 18 private-house projects and is divided into three sections: country, town, and abroad. Every page holds inspiration. And, by the way, included here is the Todhunter Earle redesign of Madresfield Court, in Malvern, the enchanting ancestral home of the Lygon family and the house that was the basis for Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. (vendomepress.com) —Laura Jacobs

Layer

Devold of Norway


Do you have poor circulation? You don’t have to answer that. Even if you simply detest the cold, help is here in the form of Devold of Norway, a brand that’s been around since 1853, although it has spent much of the past 170 years outfitting polar explorers. Recently, it’s shown up at a few small boutiques in various ski towns. Last winter, your Air Mail style correspondent picked up a pair of oatmeal-colored woolen socks at Westerlind, a great little shop in Millerton, New York. As the thermometer flirts with freezing, they have once again become the hardest-working item in our underpinnings drawer. Next up: this unisex split-seam sweater, which was initially developed for use by Norwegian fishermen but will look just as good out of the water. ($265, westerlind.com) —Ashley Baker

Shop

Tiffany & Co. Pop-Up


Not that we need another excuse to while away an afternoon in the West Village, but Tiffany & Co.’s beautiful new pop-up at the intersection of West Fourth and Bank Street is a great one. The shop was inspired by the work and sensibility of Jean Schlumberger, the house’s beloved French jeweler, and shows off many of his alluring designs while also tempting jewelry-lovers with a well-edited selection of baubles from the house’s other collections, including Tiffany T1, Tiffany Knot, and Tiffany HardWear. Throughout the holiday season, the store will host special events, including on-site hand-painting of Tiffany gift boxes and holiday cards, along with wax sealing and tarot-card readings. (tiffany.com) —Ashley Baker

Listen

Bad Bets


On the list of best-known F.B.I. cases, which includes the 1932 Lindbergh-baby kidnapping and D. B. Cooper’s 1971 hijacking of a passenger plane, there’s an outlier: Enron. The only white-collar crime on that list, the energy giant’s implosion, in 2001, and the subsequent investigation into accounting fraud, shocked the world. Now the two journalists from The Wall Street Journal who broke the story, John Emshwiller and Rebecca Smith, are revisiting the subject for the inaugural season of Bad Bets, The Wall Street Journal’s podcast about big, bad businesses. Emshwiller and Smith will reveal how they came across one of the biggest corporate-fraud cases ever. Speaking with Enron insiders and whistleblowers, they recount how a company worth $60 billion went bankrupt. (podcasts.apple.com) —Jacob Robbins

Drink

Overstory


We are not easily shocked. But then we found ourselves in Manhattan’s financial district, on the 64th floor of 70 Pine Street, guzzling an expertly mixed cocktail at Overstory, a new rooftop cocktail bar with 360-degree views of New York City. Is this $24 martini the best way to experience the city’s architectural splendor without enlisting the services of a helicopter? Probably. It also happens to be the quickest way to impress out-of-town guests. Upon arrival at the building, guests are directed by a friendly reservationist to an express elevator that deposits them at Saga, a fine-dining establishment located on the 63rd floor. A quasi-hidden staircase is the only way to reach Overstory, and for good reason—these views are best experienced without any interference from the masses. (overstory-nyc.com) —Ashley Baker

Issue No. 122
November 13, 2021
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Issue No. 122
November 13, 2021