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September 20, 2025
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No. 323
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In This Week’s Issue
A ROSE BY ANOTHER NAME

He was known as Nick “Rocky” Rockefeller throughout his life. Only after his death did his friends learn to call him what he truly was: a con man. Jonathan Alter reports …

Make Britain Great Again

Many in the United Kingdom feel that, by hosting Trump for yet another state visit this past week, the royal family has been pimping itself out in an all too Epstein-like manner …

BREW-BLOODED

Joseph Bullmore unravels the Guinness dynasty—and the Kennedy-like curse that has plagued them with premature deaths, freak accidents, and QAnon conspiracies …

GAGA FOR MAGA

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, Clara Molot goes inside the universe of hyper-online, far-right figures who command the attention of young conservatives today …

SPEAKING FRANKLY

Sixty years on, reporter Gay Talese and illustrator Ed Sorel tell Mark Rozzo about the Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra that earned them a place in journalism’s Hall of Fame …

A FAWLTY FIXTURE

Jonathan Margolis reveals how John Cleese’s cheaply made English sitcom went from fringe flop to global hit—and continues to delight and rake in millions of dollars 50 years later … …

WEST WING FLING

A new book on Robert McNamara reveals a rumored romance with Jackie Kennedy—complete with love notes, late-night dancing, and Newport sleepovers …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Union Square Cafe’s rocky start … Downton Abbey lives on … Malibu rises from the ashes … re-discovering Robert Louis Stevenson’s treasures … Matisse’s stroke of resistance… Scandinavian hotels embrace hygge … The Lexicon of Comicana at 50 … this month’s best mysteries … And another insane week in American health!

But First …
Issue No. 323

The View from Here Was Trump’s second state visit to the U.K. a case of Rex-ploitation?

By George Pendle
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Disappearing Act

The 40-Year Con Nicholas Rockefeller—Yalie, Davos man, member of multiple boards—died a pillar of the West Coast establishment. Then the truth came out

By Jonathan Alter
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Games

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee
The Picture of Health

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

This week in American health: R.F.K. Jr. can’t stop, won’t stop; Trump comes for the disabled; and rock-paper-scissoring our way to abolishing all vaccines
Nothing fishy here: R.F.K. Jr. hangs out with Russell Brand and Dr. Mehmet Oz in February.
Read On
American Invasion

The Oracle of Oxford Larry Ellison, who surpassed Elon Musk last week to become the world’s richest man, is transforming the city into the new Silicon Valley

By Mick Brown
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP
Read On
The Far-Right Stuff

Who Will Replace Charlie Kirk? A new wave of right-wing provocateurs is shaping Gen Z politics outside the mainstream-media spotlight

By Clara Molot
Read On
Air Supply

Mondo la Mode

AIR SUPPLY prepares you for Paris Fashion Week with Sézane’s gingham shift, Charvet slippers, Caviar Kaspia potato bowls, and more
Shop
Photo: McKeown/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Hodge)
Guest Edit

Will Cooper’s Favorite Things The former creative director behind Hotel Peter & Paul, in New Orleans, and the Siren, in Detroit, launched William White, a design studio in New York City. Here, he shares his love for all things white

Shop
Dynastic Dysfunction

Oh, Goodness! Those Guinnesses! Can a new Netflix series make sense of one of the most cursed families in Europe? First, let’s face facts

By Joseph Bullmore
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index Peter Thiel hymns the Antichrist, Pam Bondi hates hate speech, and Donald Trump has mourned long enough

By George Kalogerakis
Read On
Small Talk
“I want to ask, where do you steal your ideas?”
“I want to ask, where do you steal your ideas?”
Notes on an Aesthetic

The Scent of a Reader What is the fragrance of a well-read life?

By Jennifer Noyes
Read On
Best
stay Nimb Since it first opened, in 1843, the 15-acre Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen has embodied two key Danish values—sophistication… shop Louis Vuitton x Grace Coddington Ready, set, shop: Grace Coddington has designed a new capsule collection for Louis Vuitton that… read Princess Margaret and the Curse Known for her glamorous pursuits and doomed affairs, Princess Margaret has gone down… read A Quiet Evening Norman Lewis started traveling long before he had the notion to document his journeys. He was quite happy to go abroad… wear Stretch Your Story You’ve heard of K-beauty and K-pop, but what about K-activewear? Stretch Your Story blends the legacy of Korean wellness… drink Kroma Most supplements rely on pretty packaging and vague promises. Kroma’s Super Core, however, actually works. This is… stay Nimb Since it first opened, in 1843, the 15-acre Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen has embodied two key Danish values—sophistication… shop Louis Vuitton x Grace Coddington Ready, set, shop: Grace Coddington has designed a new capsule collection for Louis Vuitton that… read Princess Margaret and the Curse Known for her glamorous pursuits and doomed affairs, Princess Margaret has gone down… read A Quiet Evening Norman Lewis started traveling long before he had the notion to document his journeys. He was quite happy to go abroad… wear Stretch Your Story You’ve heard of K-beauty and K-pop, but what about K-activewear? Stretch Your Story blends the legacy of Korean wellness… drink Kroma Most supplements rely on pretty packaging and vague promises. Kroma’s Super Core, however, actually works. This is…
Washington Confidential

Passion on the Potomac A new book hints at an affair between Jackie Kennedy and Robert McNamara spanning J.F.K.’s death, the Vietnam War, and several marriages

By William Taubman and Philip Taubman
Read On
Rising from the Ashes

Letter from Malibu Eight months after the wildfires, Malibu’s ocean still glitters, the smoothies still cost $33, and the dream of life overlooking the Pacific is proving hard to kill

By Ashley Baker
Read On
Adventures in Journalism

The Chairman in Profile

Gay Talese and Edward Sorel, the writer and illustrator of “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” on the origins, aftermath, and eventual sanctification of the greatest profile in magazine history
Read On
Comedy Classics

Fawlty Reasoning How has Fawlty Towers, one of the most offbeat, provincial, inappropriate, and heavily excoriated shows of all time, remained popular for 50 years? Nobody quite knows …

By Jonathan Margolis
Read On
Open Book

Agitrons,Waftaroms, and Neoflects, Oh My! Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s Lexicon of Comicana—a lovingly ironic send-up of comic-strip conventions—remains the gold standard, 50 years on

By Cullen Murphy
13
Top, Nancy, by Ernie Bushmiller, 1966. In the space behind the raindrops and the bugs is Bushmiller’s trademark symbol: three rocks. Center, Beetle Bailey, by Mort Walker, 1970. Symbolic swearing in the comics is called maladicta. Above, Hi and Lois, by Walker and Dik Browne, 1965. Briffits and hites follow Hi through the house as he brings good news to Lois.
“Often we relate to people more through facial expressions than through language.”
“It is important, therefore, to master the most basic aspects of ‘teteology.’”
Blondie, by Chic Young, 1952. A clap of thunder causes Dagwood to scatter the contents of his well-known sandwich.
“Since the brain isn’t visible, a clue is needed to tip off the reader as to the character’s I.Q.”
A critical element of indicia.
From Chapter Five, “How To.”
Another critical element of indicia.
Fumetti go back hundreds of years.
“Cartoonists are especially fond of onomatopoeia.”
From Chapter Three, “The Right to Disassemble.”
“There are a number of uncategorized indicia that must be memorized if one is to become a true expert in comicana.”
Mutt and Jeff, by Bud Fisher, 1924. Three devices in a single panel—dotted eyesight lines, sweat drops, and a well-placed sign.
Read On
Listen

The Man Who Would Be Rockefeller On this week’s podcast, Jonathan Alter takes us inside the story of the con man who grifted his way into the American establishment

Read On
The Restaurant Life

Salad Days As Union Square Cafe celebrates its 40th anniversary, owner Danny Meyer recalls its nail-biting opening phase

By Christine Muhlke
Read On
Books
Max Carter On

Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson

by Leo Damrosch
Read On
Behind the Scenes

Downton and Out With the last of the Downton Abbey movies in theaters, Lily James, Matthew Goode, and other cast members recall working with Maggie Smith and how Downton-mania spread across the pond

By Benji Wilson
Read On
Highlight
Marie Antoinette with a Rose, by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1783.

Let Them Eat Cake!

When Marie Antoinette arrived at Versailles at 10 A.M. on May 16, 1770, she was a graceful, not very tall 14-year-old with newly straightened teeth. Three hours later she was married to the dauphin, the future Louis XVI, king of France. Life at Versailles was a spectacle, and the young bride’s role was essentially performative. Her powdered hair, rouge, and jewels were required elements of the court uniform, and as a teenager she was no more able to choose her clothes and décor than she could control how she spent her time. Once she became queen, in 1774, she was able to exert herself. READ ON

Read On
Inside Story

Matisse vs. the Nazis Despite a teaching post in San Francisco and a visa to Rio de Janeiro, the artist chose to stay in France and pursue his “degenerate” art during W.W. II

By Christopher C. Gorham
Read On
Murder, They Wrote

Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch Two mystery books unfolding on either side of the Atlantic, and a new Maigret TV show set in present-day Paris

By Lisa Henricksson
Read On
Close-up

Emily Fairn With roles opposite Martin Freeman and Willem Dafoe under her belt, the 26-year-old Liverpudlian is now starring in House of Guinness

By Victoria Herman
Read On
Travel

Northern Exposure Looking for style, hygge, and value, travelers are flocking to Scandinavia—and the hotels are rising to the occasion

By Mary Holland
Read On
Small Talk
“Now that you’re semi-nude under garish lighting with a total stranger in an environment synonymous with illness and death, let’s take your blood pressure to see if it’s normal.”
“Now that you’re semi-nude under garish lighting with a total stranger in an environment synonymous with illness and death, let’s take your blood pressure to see if it’s normal.”
The Perfect Ending

Wes Gordon

The creative director of Carolina Herrera answers 36 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
Stephen Kroninger’s Sketchbook
Larry the Birdman has been feeding and watching over the pigeons in Washington Square Park for more than 15 years. He calls them “the best friends to have.... They’re easier to talk to than people, and they never argue with you.”
Is Edited By

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Contributing Artists

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OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

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In Memoriam

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

Issue No. 323
September 20, 2025
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Issue No. 323
September 20, 2025
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