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December 27, 2025
The Best
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No. 337
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In This Week’s Issue
THE ORIGINAL ZELIG

Larry Schiller was a hustler extraordinaire. But it was his role as Norman Mailer’s collaborator and irritant, as David Margolick reveals, that led to the Pulitzer-winning The Executioner’s Song …

STUCK ON STUPID

On average, Americans are becoming more stupid. Stuart Jeffries examines the possible reasons—be it TikTok brain rot or the theory that the less bright are reproducing fastest …

ROTHSCHILD VS. ROTHSCHILD

Two baronesses are battling over a château in Switzerland referred to as a “mini Louvre,” brimming with priceless paintings and antique furniture …

THE BIG LEBOWITZ

Fran Lebowitz is not shy about her dislike of many things. Now she adds a few more to the list, including—but very much not limited to—Labubus, leaf blowers, and hosting dinner parties …

PAJAMA PARTY!

In her latest Notes on an Aesthetic column, Jennifer Noyes revives the hostess pajama—once favored by Coco Chanel—as an antidote to athleisure and as a reminder that staying in can still be a fashion choice …

THE STAR OF THE EAST

With a voice Maria Callas called “incomparable” and Bob Dylan dubbed a “cosmic instrument,” Umm Kulthum remains, 50 years after her death, a giant of Egyptian culture and beloved around the world …

AMAN FOR ALL SEASONS

Pico Iyer, our travel columnist and Japan resident for the past 38 years, offers a tour of his country, Aman by Aman, starting on the 35th floor of a Tokyo high-rise and concluding amid the sacred shrines at Ise …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

It’s all fun and games with Connections, our unauthorized Trump edition! … Lina Bo Bardi meets Charles Eames in a collection of midcentury-design masterpieces … our guide to what your champagne says about you … and we toast the Attention-Whore Index!

But First …
Issue No. 337

The View from Here Are we getting stupider? The data should be taken with a grain of salt, but the headlines are harder to dismiss

By Stuart Jeffries
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Arts and Letters

The Oddest Couple in American Literature: Part I How the unlikely, tumultuous partnership of Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller produced the true-crime masterpiece The Executioner’s Song

By David Margolick
Read On
Games

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee
Scandale!

Rothschild vs. Rothschild The secretive international-banking family is at each other’s throats over who should own the contents of the baronial home—“a mini Louvre”—holding masterpieces by Goya, Rembrandt, and El Greco

By Kim Willsher
Read On
Small Talk

Connections: Special Trumpworld Edition! Play our unauthorized version of the popular game

By John Ficarra
Read On
Air Supply

Do Not Disturb

Forget Dry January. Our self-care guide sources supplies for an impossibly hydrated and high-thread-count season
Shop
Photo: Deborah Turbeville/Condé Nast/Getty Images (woman on beach)
Notes on an Aesthetic

The Pajama Game Somewhere between formal and relaxed, hostess pajamas offer comfort without surrender

By Jennifer Noyes
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index After three years cataloguing the world’s most insufferable showboaters, the Attention-Whore Index waves good-bye (and good riddance!)

By George Kalogerakis
Photo Illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Best
read Winter Stories Ingvild Rishøi, the Norwegian author of the Christmas novella Brightly Shining (2024), is back with a triptych of tender… pick Heath Wagoner Thinking of gathering auld acquaintances for a New Year’s party? Be wary of a lively catch-up interrupted by the accusatory… wear Nili Lotan I’ve failed many times at finding the perfect Fair Isle sweater. (Too itchy! Too frumpy! Too grandmother-y!) That is, until I stumbled… watch Cover-Up A new Netflix documentary spotlights an unsung hero of print media: Seymour Hersh. And under an increasingly opaque political… read Bridget Jones’s Diary Can’t think of New Year’s resolutions for 2026? Perhaps Bridget Jones—of Bridget Jones’s… sip Champagne Telmont The New Year is almost here, and with it comes champagne! But picking out the right bottle to pop is never as simple as it seems… read Winter Stories Ingvild Rishøi, the Norwegian author of the Christmas novella Brightly Shining (2024), is back with a triptych of tender… pick Heath Wagoner Thinking of gathering auld acquaintances for a New Year’s party? Be wary of a lively catch-up interrupted by the accusatory… wear Nili Lotan I’ve failed many times at finding the perfect Fair Isle sweater. (Too itchy! Too frumpy! Too grandmother-y!) That is, until I stumbled… watch Cover-Up A new Netflix documentary spotlights an unsung hero of print media: Seymour Hersh. And under an increasingly opaque political… read Bridget Jones’s Diary Can’t think of New Year’s resolutions for 2026? Perhaps Bridget Jones—of Bridget Jones’s… sip Champagne Telmont The New Year is almost here, and with it comes champagne! But picking out the right bottle to pop is never as simple as it seems…
Guest Edit

Tony Melillo’s Favorite Things The master of the perfect T-shirt at ATM by Anthony Thomas Melillo shares his taste for Christophe Pourny flyswatters, C. O. Bigelow handwash, and more

Shop
Air Supply

The Semiotics of Champagne

Some people order champagne to celebrate. Others order it to be seen. From dependable classics to insider favorites, this is a decoding of what your chosen bottle quietly reveals about who you are—or who you’d like to be tonight
By Jennifer Noyes
Read On
Small Talk
“Rapunzel, achieving freedom can be difficult, but achieving financial freedom doesn’t have to be.”
“Rapunzel, achieving freedom can be difficult, but achieving financial freedom doesn’t have to be.”
A Critic, A Broad

Fran Lebowitz Lays Down the Law In an interview, the author and wit casts her judgment on Labubus, leaf blowers, and needless expressions of love

interview by
Sian Cain
Read On
Cultural Treasures

The Year of Umm Kulthum The Egyptian singer’s millions of fans include Maria Callas, Bob Dylan, and Beyoncé

By Sam Kashner
Read On
A Very New York Holiday
At Lincoln Center
George Balanchine’s production of The Nutracker, now in its 70th season, is on through the New Year.… At Jack Shainman Gallery
A gallery exhibition spans Faith Ringgold’s career, from her early “tankas” to her acclaimed story-quilt paintings.… At St. Ann’s Warehouse
Michelle Williams takes the title role in an Off Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s play Anna Christie… At The Museum at F.I.T.
Fashion and psychoanalysis converge in an exhibition featuring pieces by Azzedine Alaïa, Elsa Schiaparelli, and more… At the Whitney
To mark the centennial of Calder’s Circus, the work is presented in dialogue with the artist’s other groundbreaking experiments… At the Met
Celebrated in the Nordic countries but little known elsewhere, 60 paintings by Helene Schjerfbeck reveal her singular style…
Open Book

Modern Times A new coffee-table book gathers the work of 300 designers—among them Florence Knoll, Lina Bo Bardi, and Charles Eames—whose creations shaped midcentury style around the world

7
A music room, designed by David Hicks for the ninth Marquess of Londonderry, London, 1965.
The Ball Chair, designed by Eero Aarnio, 1963.
Top, the Esfera Lounge Armchair, by Ricardo Fasanello, 1968; above, a lounge chair for Kusch+Co, by Luigi Colani, circa 1968.
The Fjord flatware collection, by Jens Quistgaard, 1954.
Vuokko Nurmesniemi with her Kakemono fabric, 1957.
A vase from the Ventana series, by Mona Morales-Schildt, 1950s.
A coffee table for Lisa Ponti and Luigi Licitra, by Carlo Mollino, 1950.
Read On
Books
Clifford Krauss On

The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II

by David Nasaw
Read On
View With a Room

Peace Be with You In Japan, the Aman hotels offer a taste of the country’s past, present, and future—along with a refuge from the tourists

By Pico Iyer
Read On
Small Talk
“Edwin is a force of nature.”
“Edwin is a force of nature.”
Highlight
Victorious Cupid, by Caravaggio, 1601–02.

Love Child

Looking at Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid for the first time, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the instant one’s back is turned, the naked young boy in the picture will jump down out of the frame and run riot. Downright shocking in its life force, Caravaggio’s allegorical painting is unlike anything that came before or after. Indeed, it seems to bespeak some kind of Faustian pact. READ ON

Read On
Was Founded By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

And Is Edited By

Julia Vitale

Design Director

Angela Panichi

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Senior Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Elena Clavarino George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

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Ann Schneider

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Paloma Huerre

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Adam Nadler

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H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

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Designer

Zoé Gillette

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Victoria Herman Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks 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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Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

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Technology

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General Manager, Commerce & Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

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Catherine Scott

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Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

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Adam Mendelsohn

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

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E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Milton Esterow Duncan Hannah Jane Larkworthy Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 337
December 27, 2025
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Issue No. 337
December 27, 2025
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