Fiction vs. Fact

Howard Blum tracks down the sleuths who proved an innocent man had been imprisoned for the rape of best-selling author Alice Sebold …

Explosive Company

Andrew North gives a tart review of a lunch he had in Kabul with a suicide bomber …

Canadians Behaving Badly

George Kalogerakis fills us in on a multi-billion-dollar family feud that makes Succession look like The Brady Bunch …

A Swingin’ Affair

It’s Sinatra’s world. And as Bruce Handy learns at a very ring-a-ding-ding gathering, these “tributeers” are living in it—completely …

Holiday (Movies) in Hell

Bruce Feirstein has a few generous suggestions on how the Hallmark Channel can spice up their seasonal movies …

Looking Good!

In her debut column for AIR MAIL, longtime wellness-and-beauty expert Linda Wells peels back the layers of her lockdown skin-care regime and asks: Was it worth it?

Issue No. 126

The View from Here My lunch with a love-addled suicide bomber. Welcome to life in the new Afghanistan

By Andrew North

Read On

The Man in the Lineup Alice Sebold’s best-selling account of her own rape was headed for the big screen. Then the film’s unlikely producer started asking questions

By Howard Blum

Read On

Battle of the Butt-Dialing Billionaires This family war makes Succession look like The Brady Bunch

By George Kalogerakis

Read On

3

A Merry Coronavirus Christmas A warning from Santa Claus before he climbs onto his sleigh

By John Ficarra

Read On

A Very AIR MAIL Holiday: Gifts for Him

As the gift-giving season approaches, show your affection for the male figures in your life with AIR SUPPLY’s selection of dapper delights and handsome heirlooms

Shop

Photo: Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Beatty)

My Favorite Things Ceramic artist and former fashion model Carey Lowell—who’s appeared in films and TV shows from License to Kill and Law & Order to Sleepless in Seattle—lists the products winning in her wardrobe and topping her wish list

By Carey Lowell

Shop

Photo: Catherine White (Lowell)

Linguine, with a Side of Sinatra At Patsy’s, a motley crew of Frank Sinatra singers meets once a year for chicken parm and shoptalk

By Bruce Handy

Read On

George Clooney Is Happy to Pour You a Drink He’s 60 and his hair is more salt than pepper now, but the actor–director–tequila baron still has plenty to say

By Jonathan Dean

Read On

Eye of the Beholder AIR MAIL’s new columnist reflects on her lockdown skin-care regimen, peeling back the layers to reveal its true value

By Linda Wells

Read On

“Mooom! Billy is founding a multi-national tech company!”

Hallmark Endings The Hallmark Channel has transformed Christmas into countless variations on one winning formula. Herewith, a few plot-twist suggestions to keep things interesting

By Bruce Feirstein

Read On

Watch Licorice Pizza In his latest film, Licorice Pizza, director Paul Thomas Anderson returns to his youth: the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s…

Send Paperless Post’s Letters to Santa Ever have to reassure a child that her Christmas wish list will, in fact, reach the North Pole? …

Travel Globe-Trotter x Warm & Wonderful The “black sheep” sweater notoriously worn by feisty Diana, Princess of Wales, several times in the 80s…

Sparkle Mish Fine Jewelry It’s fine-jewelry season, and whether you’re giving, getting, or just admiring the stuff, we have some important news. Designer Mish Tworkowski…

Read South of Somewhere Southern Italy is as much a character in Robert V. Camuto’s South of Somewhere: Wine, Food, and the Soul of Italy as are the wine and food…

Listen The Journal I know everyone listens to The Daily, the podcast from The New York Times. It’s terrific. Listeners should also try The Journal…

Watch Licorice Pizza In his latest film, Licorice Pizza, director Paul Thomas Anderson returns to his youth: the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s…

Send Paperless Post’s Letters to Santa Ever have to reassure a child that her Christmas wish list will, in fact, reach the North Pole? …

Travel Globe-Trotter x Warm & Wonderful The “black sheep” sweater notoriously worn by feisty Diana, Princess of Wales, several times in the 80s…

Sparkle Mish Fine Jewelry It’s fine-jewelry season, and whether you’re giving, getting, or just admiring the stuff, we have some important news. Designer Mish Tworkowski…

Read South of Somewhere Southern Italy is as much a character in Robert V. Camuto’s South of Somewhere: Wine, Food, and the Soul of Italy as are the wine and food…

Listen The Journal I know everyone listens to The Daily, the podcast from The New York Times. It’s terrific. Listeners should also try The Journal…

Charge of the Minutemen Before The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, there was Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris’s “brain-changing” news-radio satire, On the Hour

By Josh Karp

Read On

The Only Podcast You Need Tune out the noise and tune in to Morning Meeting

Read On

Disney’s World

Back in the day, Walt Disney’s animators were meticulous about their research. To get the deer and other animals in Bambi right, they trooped off to the zoo for observation and sketching, then wrangled fawns, does, rabbits, and who knows what else into the studio for more of the same. Disney’s fairy-tale features didn’t aspire to quite that level of naturalism—no one at the studio was dissecting pixie anatomy—but neither did they lack for real-world grounding. READ ON

At the Met, in New York, a charming new show explores the 18th-century French decorative objects that inspired the Disney classics Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast.

Read On

Discover

“It’s technically a milkshake, but if I call it a ‘smoothie,’ I can have it for breakfast.”

House Beautiful How to live smashingly in the French countryside, according to Dior’s Cordelia de Castellane

By Katrina Burroughs

Read On

Tye Sheridan The 25-year-old stars opposite Ben Affleck in George Clooney’s coming-of-age film, The Tender Bar

By Bridget Arsenault

Read On

“I’m afraid your test results came back with a frowny face and a rain cloud.”

Object Lesson A new book traces India’s history and future through 100 objects

By Max Carter

9

*Top,* object 48, a folio from the Ramayana of Jagat Singh, 1650; *above,* object 81, a brass *mohra,* or mask, of a goddess, circa the 10th century.

Object five, a 12th-century pirouetting dancer in sandstone.

Object 73, a pilgrimage map of Shatrunjaya in ink, watercolor, and gold on cloth, circa 1800.

Object 34, bronze sculptures of the Vijayanagara king Krishnaraya and his queens, circa 1517.

Object 54, a Mughal falcon in gold, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, and onyx, circa 1650.

*Top,* object 60, *Jali* windows in the Siddi Sayyid mosque, 1572; *above,* object 100, a late-18th-century Holi watercolor illustrating the country’s profusion of pink.

Object 28, a 14th- or 15th-century ivory sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesha.

Object 66, a *ketubah* (Jewish marriage contract) in watercolor, ink, and gold metallic paint on parchment, 1887.

Object 96, Indian publisher Amar Chitra Katha’s comics series, which began in 1967.

Read On

Joanne Kaufman On

Face the Music: A Memoir

by Peter Duchin with Patricia Beard

Read On

Saul David On

Hitler’s American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany’s March to Global War

by Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman

Read On

The Call of the Wild A mountaineer spent his life scaling the world’s great heights. Then he lost a friend in an avalanche, and everything—well, most everything—changed

By Rick Ridgeway

Read On

Hold tight and carry on skating. You’ve got just a few more weeks to skate at the ice rink at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London—the museum’s expanding Wildlife Garden will take over the rink space early next year.

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Chris Garrett Michael Hainey Nathan King Julia Vitale

Design Director

Angela Panichi

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Features Editor

Ash Carter

Executive Editor

David Foxley

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Associate Editors

Elena Clavarino Jensen Davis Coco Paul-Henriot Jacob Robbins Elinor Schneider Roxy Solis

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Columnists

Cazzie David Emma Freud Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Douglas McGrath
Linda Wells James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Joseph Bullmore William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Duncan Hannah Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Pip Johnson Hilary Knight Jenny Kroik Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

London Editor

Bridget Arsenault

Communications Director

Monika Camara Batista

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Photo Editor

Emine Gozde Sevim

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff Sade Singleton

Intern

Gasper Tringale-White

Chief Operating Officer

Bill Keenan

Chief Marketing Officer

Emily Davis

Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Sales Director

Michael Pescuma

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Integrated Marketing Producer

Alex Dickerson

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Integrated Marketing Manager

Georgia Karakostas

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

In Memoriam

Richard David Story (1952–2021)

The View from Here My lunch with a love-addled suicide bomber. Welcome to life in the new Afghanistan

The Man in the Lineup Alice Sebold’s best-selling account of her own rape was headed for the big screen. Then the film’s unlikely producer started asking questions

Battle of the Butt-Dialing Billionaires This family war makes Succession look like The Brady Bunch

A Merry Coronavirus Christmas A warning from Santa Claus before he climbs onto his sleigh

As the gift-giving season approaches, show your affection for the male figures in your life with AIR SUPPLY’s selection of dapper delights and handsome heirlooms

My Favorite Things Ceramic artist and former fashion model Carey Lowell—who’s appeared in films and TV shows from License to Kill and Law & Order to Sleepless in Seattle—lists the products winning in her wardrobe and topping her wish list

Linguine, with a Side of Sinatra At Patsy’s, a motley crew of Frank Sinatra singers meets once a year for chicken parm and shoptalk

George Clooney Is Happy to Pour You a Drink He’s 60 and his hair is more salt than pepper now, but the actor–director–tequila baron still has plenty to say

Eye of the Beholder AIR MAIL’s new columnist reflects on her lockdown skin-care regimen, peeling back the layers to reveal its true value

Hallmark Endings The Hallmark Channel has transformed Christmas into countless variations on one winning formula. Herewith, a few plot-twist suggestions to keep things interesting

Charge of the Minutemen Before The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, there was Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris’s “brain-changing” news-radio satire, On the Hour

The Only Podcast You Need Tune out the noise and tune in to Morning Meeting

Hong Kong

Houston

Shanghai

London

Online

House Beautiful How to live smashingly in the French countryside, according to Dior’s Cordelia de Castellane

Tye Sheridan The 25-year-old stars opposite Ben Affleck in George Clooney’s coming-of-age film, The Tender Bar

Object Lesson A new book traces India’s history and future through 100 objects

The Call of the Wild A mountaineer spent his life scaling the world’s great heights. Then he lost a friend in an avalanche, and everything—well, most everything—changed

A collection of songs that will help you consider whether you are—or are at least part of—a work of art

Is Edited By

Deputy Editors

Design Director

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Features Editor

Executive Editor

Photo Director

Associate Editors

Art Director

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

International Editor

London Editor

Communications Director

Social Media Editor

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Photo Editor

Production Editor

Technology

Intern

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Marketing Officer

Brand Partnerships

Sales Director

European Sales Director

Integrated Marketing Producer

Account Manager

Integrated Marketing Manager

Financial & Business Operations

Chief Strategy Adviser

In Memoriam