July 2, 2022 – Air Mail

The Bitter End

Joel Stein perceptively notes that Larry David’s idea of a “spite store” has mutated from a clever joke into the twisted new code of conduct in the worlds of business and politics …

At The Barricades

As Americans reel from an attack on the Constitution, James Fox recounts the lives of three women whose determination to defy subjugation shows the fight to come in the years ahead …

Vidal Statistics

As the only biographer who remained on speaking terms with Gore Vidal, Matt Kapp reveals what it was like to work with the indomitable writer—and shares details of his final years …

Look, Mom, No Hands!

Despite Elon Musk’s claims, Jamie Kitman reveals, the future of driverless cars is quite a ways down the road …

Inspector Gadget

Our tech columnist, Jonathan Margolis, has found the ultimate headphones—as well as the Lego hack your kids (and maybe you?) have been waiting for …

Elements of Style

Mark Rozzo looks at the wild life of Tommy Nutter, the tailor of choice for the stars of “Swinging London” …

Issue No. 155

The View from Here Modern history teaches us that women can be subjugated for only so long

By James Fox

Read On

Spite the Power When Larry David invented “the spite store,” he meant it as a joke. But today the concept seems to animate most of American politics

By Joel Stein

Read On

The Hard-Crusted Softy in Winter Ten years after Gore Vidal’s death, the one biographer to remain friendly with the prickly master reveals poignant details of his final years

By Matt Kapp

Read On

Gen X-Cash Who carries actual money these days? Almost nobody young

By Georgina Roberts, Blanca Schofield, and Kupa Rusike

Read On

Guest of Honor

When packing your bags for a stay at a friend’s, forget not a carefully chosen token of gratitude for your dear host. Rest assured: these thoughtful gifts guarantee you will be nothing short of a gold-medal guest

Shop

Photo: Henry Clarke/Condé Nast/Shutterstock (table setting in St. Tropez)

My Favorite Things As founder of children’s brand Super Smalls, Maria Dueñas Jacobs combines her love for all things “fun and kid-centric” with refined, ornate objects. Herewith, the entrepreneur shares her peak-summer picks

By Maria Dueñas Jacobs

Shop

Auto Fiction Though Elon Musk and his Tesla groupies might claim otherwise, real self-driving cars are still a ways away

By Jamie Kitman

Read On

Wear D’Ascoli The 1940s are a sartorial period worth revisiting. Hence our abiding interest in the Brigitte silk-crêpe midi dress from D’Ascoli.…

Relax Soho Sanctuary In the middle of SoHo, three floors above the congested street that’s home to the Nike store, there’s a modest and relaxing…

Listen Chameleon: High Rollers In High Rollers, the second season of the podcast Chameleon, no one is a hero. The investigative series…

Dine Le Gratin Daniel Boulud was 14 years old when he left his family’s farm, outside of Lyon. Even though he had never been to a restaurant…

Wear Gucci If the very look of a boater hat makes you giggle, we can hardly blame you. It took us some time to come around, too. There’s a rather long story…

Apply Kari Gran In search of a sunscreen that didn’t feel goopy and thick like Vaseline, I tried the Essential SPF 30 from Kari Gran. The oil-based moisturizer…

Wear D’Ascoli The 1940s are a sartorial period worth revisiting. Hence our abiding interest in the Brigitte silk-crêpe midi dress from D’Ascoli.…

Relax Soho Sanctuary In the middle of SoHo, three floors above the congested street that’s home to the Nike store, there’s a modest and relaxing…

Listen Chameleon: High Rollers In High Rollers, the second season of the podcast Chameleon, no one is a hero. The investigative series…

Dine Le Gratin Daniel Boulud was 14 years old when he left his family’s farm, outside of Lyon. Even though he had never been to a restaurant…

Wear Gucci If the very look of a boater hat makes you giggle, we can hardly blame you. It took us some time to come around, too. There’s a rather long story…

Apply Kari Gran In search of a sunscreen that didn’t feel goopy and thick like Vaseline, I tried the Essential SPF 30 from Kari Gran. The oil-based moisturizer…

Landing Gear A temperature-controlled mug for coffee-lovers; headphones without equal; the world’s sharpest, brightest portable projector; and more

By Jonathan Margolis

Read On

Tricky Dicks Influencers on the receiving end of explicit photographs are fighting back

By Sian Griffiths

Read On

WackyLeaks “Excerpts” from Ginni Thomas’s e-mails attempting to overturn the 2020 election …

Read On

Trains, Trains, and Automobiles The longest continuous rail journey (minus a few short interchanges between stations) takes travelers halfway around the world, from Lagos in southern Portugal to Singapore

By Michael Binyon

Read On

When Savile Row Met Carnaby Street Tommy Nutter clothed the Beatles and just about every other member of “Swinging London”

By Mark Rozzo

Read On

The Big Books of Summer A smart list of hot titles you won’t want to miss

Read On

Charlie Siem The violin virtuoso and Dior model making classical music cool

By Elena Clavarino

Read On

Cult of Personality How did a dancing social-media star with 1.3 million followers get “brainwashed” by a Christian fundamentalist and self-styled “Man of God” who once made a film starring Meghan Markle?

By Keiran Southern

Read On

A Party of One She’s promoting a new business that sells the introverted lifestyle because, like Greta Garbo, this “lady hermit” just wants to be alone

By Will Pavia

Read On

Beethoven in the Fjord Norway’s superstar of the keyboard, Leif Ove Andsnes, directs a chamber-music festival in his own backyard

By Matthew Gurewitsch

Read On

La Vie en Azur A new book celebrates the sun-soaked and star-studded legacy of the French Riviera

6

*Top,* an Alain Capeillères–designed swimming pool in Le Brusc, photographed by Martine Franck in 1976; *above,* tanning in Nice, by Martin Parr, 2015.

Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot on the beach of Golfe-Juan, by Robert Capa, 1948.

The view from Sacha Guitry’s villa, in Cap d’Ail, by Jacques Henri Lartigue, 1928.

Clockwise from top left: Paul Éluard, Roland Penrose, Man Ray, Ady Fidelin, and Nusch Éluard picnic on the Île Sainte-Marguerite, off Cannes, by Lee Miller, 1937.

Grace Kelly on the set of *To Catch a Thief* in Cannes, by Edward Quinn, 1954.

A lemon tree in Grasse, by Charles Nègre, 1852.

“I suggest you say your final ‘I told you so.’”

The Artist’s Gaze Panned by critics, loved by Jack Nicholson and Madonna, the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano discusses his provocative art, collected in a new show

By Stephen McGinty

Read On

Joan Frank On

One True Sentence: Writers & Readers on Hemingway’s Art

Edited by Mark Cirino and Michael Von Cannon

Read On

Michael Sragow On

The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham—Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit

by Ron Shelton

Read On

A Numbers Game We associate algebra, geometry, and calculus with practicality and logic. But the origins of math are as mysterious as any scripture

By Alec Wilkinson

Read On

Great Igiea One of Sicily’s most storied hotels is restored to grandeur, thanks to discerning new owners Rocco Forte

By Catherine Fairweather

Read On

“As Your Evilness can see, it’s nigh impossible to keep the clean clothes from falling on the floor.”

Michael Clinton

The publishing executive, author, and photographer answers 48 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

Summer’s here and the time is right … for heading to the beach!

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Chris Garrett Michael Hainey Nathan King Julia Vitale

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Angela Panichi

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John Tornow

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Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

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Ash Carter

Executive Editor

David Foxley

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Brendan Burford

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Associate Editors

Elena Clavarino Jensen Davis Carolina de Armas Coco Paul-Henriot 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 Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick 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 Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

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Isabelle Harvie-Watt

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Bridget Arsenault

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Communications Director

Monika Camara Batista

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

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Randall Poster

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Photo Editor

Emine Gozde Sevim

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Designer

Zoé Gillette

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff Sade Singleton

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Gasper Tringale-White

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Shop General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Advertising Director

Michael Pescuma

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Integrated Marketing Producer

Alex Dickerson

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

In Memoriam

Richard David Story Peter Bogdanovich André Leon Talley Duncan Hannah

The View from Here Modern history teaches us that women can be subjugated for only so long

Spite the Power When Larry David invented “the spite store,” he meant it as a joke. But today the concept seems to animate most of American politics

The Hard-Crusted Softy in Winter Ten years after Gore Vidal’s death, the one biographer to remain friendly with the prickly master reveals poignant details of his final years

Gen X-Cash Who carries actual money these days? Almost nobody young

When packing your bags for a stay at a friend’s, forget not a carefully chosen token of gratitude for your dear host. Rest assured: these thoughtful gifts guarantee you will be nothing short of a gold-medal guest

My Favorite Things As founder of children’s brand Super Smalls, Maria Dueñas Jacobs combines her love for all things “fun and kid-centric” with refined, ornate objects. Herewith, the entrepreneur shares her peak-summer picks

Auto Fiction Though Elon Musk and his Tesla groupies might claim otherwise, real self-driving cars are still a ways away

Landing Gear A temperature-controlled mug for coffee-lovers; headphones without equal; the world’s sharpest, brightest portable projector; and more

Tricky Dicks Influencers on the receiving end of explicit photographs are fighting back

WackyLeaks “Excerpts” from Ginni Thomas’s e-mails attempting to overturn the 2020 election …

Trains, Trains, and Automobiles The longest continuous rail journey (minus a few short interchanges between stations) takes travelers halfway around the world, from Lagos in southern Portugal to Singapore

When Savile Row Met Carnaby Street Tommy Nutter clothed the Beatles and just about every other member of “Swinging London”

The Big Books of Summer A smart list of hot titles you won’t want to miss

Charlie Siem The violin virtuoso and Dior model making classical music cool

Cult of Personality How did a dancing social-media star with 1.3 million followers get “brainwashed” by a Christian fundamentalist and self-styled “Man of God” who once made a film starring Meghan Markle?

A Party of One She’s promoting a new business that sells the introverted lifestyle because, like Greta Garbo, this “lady hermit” just wants to be alone

Bonn

Paris

Berlin

Zurich

Online

Beethoven in the Fjord Norway’s superstar of the keyboard, Leif Ove Andsnes, directs a chamber-music festival in his own backyard

La Vie en Azur A new book celebrates the sun-soaked and star-studded legacy of the French Riviera

The Artist’s Gaze Panned by critics, loved by Jack Nicholson and Madonna, the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano discusses his provocative art, collected in a new show

A Numbers Game We associate algebra, geometry, and calculus with practicality and logic. But the origins of math are as mysterious as any scripture

Great Igiea One of Sicily’s most storied hotels is restored to grandeur, thanks to discerning new owners Rocco Forte

The publishing executive, author, and photographer answers 48 of life’s most pressing questions

Is Edited By

Deputy Editors

Design Director

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Features Editor

Executive Editor

Consulting Editor

Photo Director

Associate Editors

Art Director

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

International Editor

London Editor

Architectural Consultant

Communications Director

Head of Audience Development

Social Media Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Photo Editor

Production Editor

Designer

Technology

Intern

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Shop General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Advertising Director

European Sales Director

Integrated Marketing Producer

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

In Memoriam