{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"August 15, 2026 – Air Mail","description":"Welcome to Air Mail Issue number 370.","favicon":"https://static.airmail.news/assets/icons/apple-touch-icon.png","home_page_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15","feed_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15.json","items":[{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-view-from-here","title":"The View from Here","content_text":"My father once played the same Baltimore club as Leonard Alfred Schneider. “Change your names,” the owner told them. “I don’t need more Jew comics.” My father, who neglected the club-owner’s advice, stayed Ernie Simon. Schneider went on to fame as Lenny Bruce.Bruce died 60 years ago this month, at the age of 40, of a morphine overdose in the bathroom of his home in Hollywood Hills. His electric typewriter, still humming, had “Conspiracy to interfere with the Fourth Amendment const” struck onto the sheet of paper in the roller.Over the last six decades, the comic’s haunted, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-view-from-here","summary":"My father once played the same Baltimore club as Leonard Alfred Schneider. “Change your names,” the owner told them. “I don’t need more Jew comics.” My father, who neglected the club-owner’s advice, stayed Ernie Simon. Schneider went on to fame...","tags":["The View from Here","But First ..."],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/i83xwzkrtt7vwqh93njjcb9zmlmn-aa7d83469bc4ea4b48d633344645d1e4.jpg","author":{"name":"Scott Simon"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/scott-simon\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eScott Simon\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The comedian Lenny Bruce, who died 60 years ago this month, was a fearless champion of free speech. Today, he would have less to fear from the police—and more from the audience","shorts":false,"banner":"But First ...","category":"The View from Here"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/barry-blitts-sketchbook","title":"Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/barry-blitts-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Barry Blitt's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ycevdcx1oog4ejrtmsk1by0b94f3-5578930c7497e27a787e6f9cab8e1dfc.jpg","author":{"name":"Barry Blitt"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/barry-blitt\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eBarry Blitt\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Barry Blitt's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-bullet-riddled-rise-of-tatyana-kim","title":"The Bullet-Riddled Rise of Tatyana Kim","content_text":"In 2004, a then 28-year-old English teacher in Moscow named Tatyana Kim found herself looking for some extra income while on maternity leave, since she could no longer work as a tutor. She tried, but the baby would start crying and she would have to interrupt her lessons. Kim knew that many Russian women, including herself, were ordering clothes from German catalogues by mail. So she invested $700 in a Web site that made foreign-catalogue shopping easier by taking orders online. Twenty-two years later, one out of every two online purchases in Russia is made on that Web site: Wildberries. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-bullet-riddled-rise-of-tatyana-kim","summary":"In 2004, a then 28-year-old English teacher in Moscow named Tatyana Kim found herself looking for some extra income while on maternity leave, since she could no longer work as a tutor. She tried, but the baby would start crying...","tags":["News","retail wars"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/eoa7t07t04zlaqjpbx0xyym1wzkn-2a1585a864d9e67627c6ae04c807a2c5.jpg","author":{"name":"Andrew Ryvkin"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/andrew-ryvkin\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAndrew Ryvkin\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Until Ukraine began bombing her warehouses, the billionaire e-commerce C.E.O. kept a very low profile. But the real backstory of Russia’s richest woman belies her wholesome image","shorts":false,"banner":"retail wars","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/flacking-for-the-tate-brothers","title":"Flacking for the Tate Brothers","content_text":"Not many people make momentous career decisions at their grandfather’s funeral but in December 2022, Mateea Petrescu did exactly that. Petrescu, a publicist from Bacau, Romania, was asked by her cousin, a lawyer, if she would help to manage the publicity for one of his clients, who had just been arrested on charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group in Bucharest. That client’s name was Andrew Tate.”I immediately said yes,” says Petrescu, 42. “I’m a girl from the butthole of Romania who does PR and I was asked to do the PR for the ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/flacking-for-the-tate-brothers","summary":"Not many people make momentous career decisions at their grandfather’s funeral but in December 2022, Mateea Petrescu did exactly that. Petrescu, a publicist from Bacau, Romania, was asked by her cousin, a lawyer, if she would help to manage the...","tags":["Crime and Scandal","devils' advocate"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/jro5tmm4mlfi1s1i8374n3pbfwfs-2a1585a864d9e67627c6ae04c807a2c5.jpg","author":{"name":"Roisin Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/roisin-kelly\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eRoisin Kelly\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Facing charges of human trafficking and rape, the manosphere’s most notorious siblings hired their lawyer’s cousin to stage an image makeover. Can you blame a girl for trying?","shorts":false,"banner":"devils' advocate","category":"Crime and Scandal"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-outsourced-in-crowd","title":"The Outsourced In Crowd","content_text":"On a recent Sunday night in Montauk, a party was raging at Mary Lou’s, a lounge and private members’ club that originated in Palm Beach and has locations here and in Miami. Twenty-something women in cutout dresses and men with their dress shirts unbuttoned sipped martinis on red banquettes and danced beneath a giant disco ball. Brandi Cyrus, the D.J. and older sister of Miley, spun the tunes.Mary Lou’s has proved it can attract its share of boldface names. Michael Jordan threw a birthday party for his wife at the Palm Beach location. Rapper 2 Chainz, actor Terrence ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-outsourced-in-crowd","summary":"On a recent Sunday night in Montauk, a party was raging at Mary Lou’s, a lounge and private members’ club that originated in Palm Beach and has locations here and in Miami. Twenty-something women in cutout dresses and men with...","tags":["Modern Times","velvet-rope blues"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/8aprphtjmtin6n80m6hpk2ie539b-08cef557d6b4084c18c1b2c174b3688b.jpg","author":{"name":"Alyson Krueger"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/alyson-krueger\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAlyson Krueger\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Private clubs are turning to Contra for beautiful, influential partygoers on demand. So much for exclusivity","shorts":false,"banner":"velvet-rope blues","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/cadillac-plugs-in-turns-on","title":"Cadillac Plugs In, Turns On","content_text":"By the time they saw it coming, it was almost too late. With the belated realization that the Chinese had indeed overtaken them in the burgeoning electric-vehicle business, the world’s other car-makers descended into doom and gloom. And no one was gloomier than the Americans.After all, they’d only just gotten with the program. Following decades of reluctance, they had finally begun to embrace battery power, only to watch their president yank the emergency brake on E.V. adoption, leaving the legacy industry several car lengths behind Chinese competitors. Now the only mantra for American car-makers may be: “Catch up or die.” ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/cadillac-plugs-in-turns-on","summary":"By the time they saw it coming, it was almost too late. With the belated realization that the Chinese had indeed overtaken them in the burgeoning electric-vehicle business, the world’s other car-makers descended into doom and gloom. And no one...","tags":["Design","back in charge"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/g5c6yja69s7fcuhvcu3omjrba7qm-6610d9a67a8e340866868ba95e1706d4.jpg","author":{"name":"Jamie Kitman"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jamie-kitman\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJamie Kitman\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Despite a “strategic pullback” from electric, America’s original luxury brand is quietly riding a second wave of battery-powered innovation with a $375,000 sedan and a vision beyond Trump’s war on E.V.’s","shorts":false,"banner":"back in charge","category":"Design"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/vermeers-afterlives","title":"Vermeer’s Afterlives","content_text":"It took 200 years for a little-known Delft painter named Johannes Vermeer to be discovered ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/vermeers-afterlives","summary":"It took 200 years for a little-known Delft painter named Johannes Vermeer to be discovered ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/35ab26ltbnw1z51nqfj2uf2pvxmr-27a72faf9d8c6e5278840d8b20b6c615.png","author":{"name":"Jim Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jim-kelly\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJim Kelly\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"read","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/a-midsummer-nights-dream","title":"A Midsummer Night’s Dream","content_text":"Michael Hoffman’s 1999 A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightful iteration of Shakespeare’s ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/a-midsummer-nights-dream","summary":"Michael Hoffman’s 1999 A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightful iteration of Shakespeare’s ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/sg8qzumgrlj1846k4lx96t9e75s1-6b2ded51d81a4403d8a4bd25fa1e57ee.png","author":{"name":"Eve Eismann"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/eve-eismann\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eEve Eismann\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"watch","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/el-encanto-de-los-mirlos","title":"El Encanto de Los Mirlos","content_text":"One of Peru’s most prolific bands, Los Mirlos celebrate every facet of their identity and sound on 1986’s ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/el-encanto-de-los-mirlos","summary":"One of Peru’s most prolific bands, Los Mirlos celebrate every facet of their identity and sound on 1986’s ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/rluh69ee9vcuuh011xv2oj9llorc-d013c7496d443690fdfc60d28217b02e.png","author":{"name":"Cassidy Sollazzo"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/cassidy-sollazzo\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCassidy Sollazzo\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"listen","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/sagaponack-general-store","title":"Sagaponack General Store","content_text":"If you just so happen to be out East for the dregs of summer and can’t bring yourself to show up to another ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/sagaponack-general-store","summary":"If you just so happen to be out East for the dregs of summer and can’t bring yourself to show up to another ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/c3xi4klv4jlqrwy38wjcd2tl14f5-1b729481225a7cbb23d251744fad512f.png","author":{"name":"Gabriella Maestri"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gabriella-maestri\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGabriella Maestri\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"shop","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/i-who-have-never-known-men","title":"I Who Have Never Known Men","content_text":"In a bookstore last weekend, I was approached not once but twice by shopgoers urging me to purchase ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/i-who-have-never-known-men","summary":"In a bookstore last weekend, I was approached not once but twice by shopgoers urging me to purchase ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/9g7vvzvw6cgsc11ffl0663hvfgz4-4eecaf0abf09f6eddce1304c34a9e16b.png","author":{"name":"Paulina Prosnitz"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/paulina-prosnitz\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003ePaulina Prosnitz\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"read","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/welcome-wings","title":"Welcome Wings","content_text":"Traveling to Greece last summer was a dreamlike trance of crystal-clear waters, skinny European cigarettes, and endless tzatziki ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/welcome-wings","summary":"Traveling to Greece last summer was a dreamlike trance of crystal-clear waters, skinny European cigarettes, and endless tzatziki ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/zt723uxu2lz2j7lj3onhy5ohpsn2-1a538b09c990df3f3d8565b049b20e26.png","author":{"name":"Gracie Wiener"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gracie-wiener\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGracie Wiener\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"travel","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-old-faithful","title":"The Old Faithful","content_text":"It is still August, which means the days have a particular texture: sunblock, sea salt, a child nearby operating at a volume you’ve stopped registering as sound. Your husband is in the same state, you think. Possibly even the same Zip Code.Somewhere beneath the haze, a small administrative part of your brain has started doing the math: family dinners, a lunch you agreed to months ago in a fit of optimism; a work thing that requires you to be, once again, a person in a room full of other adults. This is when the old faithful earns its name. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/the-old-faithful","summary":"It is still August, which means the days have a particular texture: sunblock, sea salt, a child nearby operating at a volume you’ve stopped registering as sound. Your husband is in the same state, you think. Possibly even the same...","tags":["Style","Notes on an Aesthetic"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/uberbdet02634ju0k71yqgtptq2f-5f5c9d67b26b6d7361458ad9fa1f273b.jpg","author":{"name":"Jennifer Noyes"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jennifer-noyes\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJennifer Noyes\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Wardrobe necessities that make re-entry into adult life considerably less painful","shorts":false,"banner":"Notes on an Aesthetic","category":"Style"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/seriously-what-do-people-do-all-day","title":"Seriously, What Do People Do All Day?","content_text":"Bro-ly Worm and his bro friends are helicoptering from Bustletown to their houses in Sea Salt Haven.Pilot Pete told them their golf bags weigh too much for the chopper, but they took off against advice after Bro-ly told Pete, “I will buy this goddamned heliport and get you deported.” Which is rich, given that Pilot Pete is a Bustletown native and Bro-ly is from Brohio!Though Bro-ly and his friends are gone, Bustletown still bustles \u0026#8230;Hector and Javy Conejo work 12 hours a day excavating soil from the basement of Bro-ly’s new town house in preparation for the indoor pool he is putting in. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/seriously-what-do-people-do-all-day","summary":"Bro-ly Worm and his bro friends are helicoptering from Bustletown to their houses in Sea Salt Haven.Pilot Pete told them their golf bags weigh too much for the chopper, but they took off against advice after Bro-ly told Pete, “I...","tags":["Humor","scarry times"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/317xv8ada4bd278cjw2grlpq2p65-96021966735376d4c139dc932bc91d32.jpg","author":{"name":"David Kamp and Joe McKendry"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/david-kamp\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eDavid Kamp\u003c/a\u003e \u003cem class=\"type-overline type-overline-10\"\u003eand\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/joe-mckendry\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJoe M\u003cem\u003ec\u003c/em\u003eKendry\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"A children’s classic gets a 2026 makeover","shorts":false,"banner":"scarry times","category":"Humor"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/8/carb-your-enthusiasm","title":"Carb Your Enthusiasm","content_text":"There’s a brilliant scene—or rather one of many brilliant scenes—in the new Manchester-set British drama, Tip Toe, a gut-wrenching story of neighborly unlove which is coming to Starz this fall, where the non-binary Melba, dazzlingly played by Paul Rhys, holds forth on what is for them the scourge of contemporary life: “You know what I blame for the downfall of civilization? Croissants.”Standing at the épicerie of Galeries Lafayette in Paris, I understand what Melba means when I see two enormous, and I mean enormous, croissants—one regular, the other a pain au chocolat—at the counter of French star baker Philippe Conticini. The best way to ...","url":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/8/carb-your-enthusiasm","summary":"There’s a brilliant scene—or rather one of many brilliant scenes—in the new Manchester-set British drama, Tip Toe, a gut-wrenching story of neighborly unlove which is coming to Starz this fall, where the non-binary Melba, dazzlingly played by Paul Rhys, holds...","tags":["Style","The Next Big Thing"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/do9xc4h3lzbqf2ndmmxcax27xu82-ae75684b76af5f2c759063bebf7c06d8.png","author":{"name":"Mark Holgate"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/mark-holgate\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMark Holgate\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"How the humble croissant became supersized and super-hyped","shorts":false,"banner":"The Next Big Thing","category":"Style"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/a-house-divided","title":"A House Divided","content_text":"Halfway through Kurt Andersen’s sprightly new novel, The Breakup, Natalie and Asher, an estranged couple, are about to drop their daughter, Logan, off at an airport in Tennessee. Just before pulling up at the departures curb, Natalie, who is driving the car, asks if Logan is flying with United Airlines. “Yup, United domestic,” Asher replies. Andersen then steps in to clarify Asher’s remark. “Because it’s Nashville nonstop to San Francisco, both in the U.S.”The story is set in 2045, seven years after a second civil war has pushed the country to the brink of a secession—or, rather, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/a-house-divided","summary":"Halfway through Kurt Andersen’s sprightly new novel, The Breakup, Natalie and Asher, an estranged couple, are about to drop their daughter, Logan, off at an airport in Tennessee. Just before pulling up at the departures curb, Natalie, who is driving...","tags":["Books"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/jt4iuirdp2onidhm2nd05hkbxwwz-0cc175b9c0f1b6a831c399e269772661.jpg","author":{"name":"Abhrajyoti Chakraborty"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/abhrajyoti-chakraborty\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAbhrajyoti Chakraborty\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Books","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/beach-culture-italian-style","title":"Beach Culture, Italian-Style","content_text":"Ferragosto on August 15 is when all Italians down tools, shut up shop, and head for the coast. It is when the beach club—as a summer ritual and institution—comes into its own. As a holiday, Ferragosto’s roots are pre-Christian, tracing back to Emperor Augustus, who declared the end of the harvest a time of rest. The Catholic Church later adopted the date as a feast day celebrating the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. From secluded rocky coves to glamorous high-end terraces, here are the coast’s finest stabilimenti in which to celebrate the height of the Mediterranean summer.Le Sirenuse Mare ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/beach-culture-italian-style","summary":"Ferragosto on August 15 is when all Italians down tools, shut up shop, and head for the coast. It is when the beach club—as a summer ritual and institution—comes into its own. As a holiday, Ferragosto’s roots are pre-Christian, tracing...","tags":["Travel"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/2es08lc1jvyg6iywdeorsuvn8dvy-883ee8d8fd0a99fdf4031b53e5c60cb0.jpg","author":{"name":"Catherine Fairweather"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/catherine-fairweather\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCatherine Fairweather\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"From the historic Lido of Venice to Le Sirenuse Mare, a tour of Italy’s most awe-inspiring\u003cem\u003e stabilimenti \u003c/em\u003ein time for Ferragosto","shorts":false,"banner":"Travel","category":"Travel"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/harry-gruyaert-in-color","title":"Harry Gruyaert in Color","content_text":"Up until 1968, the photographer Harry Gruyaert, born in Antwerp in 1941, saw the world in shades of black and white. “I didn’t see any color,” he has said. “It was a very dull place.” Why? Because in Europe monochrome was king. But during his first sojourn to New York, in that year of 1968, Gruyaert lived in a SoHo artists’ co-op owned by the experimental choreographer Trisha Brown, and was welcomed into the budding Pop-art movement. The style’s visual brio and free-wheeling use of color changed the course of his career.Gruyaert plunged into the grimy, frenetic ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/harry-gruyaert-in-color","summary":"Up until 1968, the photographer Harry Gruyaert, born in Antwerp in 1941, saw the world in shades of black and white. “I didn’t see any color,” he has said. “It was a very dull place.” Why? Because in Europe monochrome...","tags":["Books","Open Book"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/lhc2wouapl6fd1dfxt97vgtjqgql-f7c16cd44686e6b7ccff26806119f6a8.png","author":{"name":"Maggie Turner"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/maggie-turner\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMaggie Turner\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"A new coffee-table book collects the Belgian photographer’s saturated, unabashed pictures of New York, taken over 52 years of trips to the city","shorts":false,"banner":"Open Book","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/rays-anatomy","title":"Ray’s Anatomy","content_text":"“It’s not just about seeing,” says Moritz Wesseler, the director of the Fridericianum, in Kassel, Germany. “It’s also something about feeling.” Wesseler, who organized the museum’s exhibition “Charles Ray,” opening next Saturday, points to the artist’s sculpture School Play (2014), modeled on the son of a colleague. Ray has noted the deliberately blank face, out of focus, not yet fully formed. In contrast, the youth’s costume—a bedsheet toga, neatly tied by his parents, and a toy sword—is crisp in its details. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15/rays-anatomy","summary":"“It’s not just about seeing,” says Moritz Wesseler, the director of the Fridericianum, in Kassel, Germany. “It’s also something about feeling.” Wesseler, who organized the museum’s exhibition “Charles Ray,” opening next Saturday, points to the artist’s sculpture School Play (2014),...","tags":["Culture","Highlight"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/s3pk9myjd3em0h890lx5plpxe3bq-fe4bd345cfcd1cf52e807859d27c7d2d.jpg","author":{"name":"Peter Saenger"},"date_published":"2026-08-15T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"August 15, 2026","date":"2026-08-15","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-8-15"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/peter-saenger\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003ePeter Saenger\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"An exhibition in Kassel, Germany, examines the frank, sometimes transgressive sculptures of the contemporary American artist Charles Ray","shorts":false,"banner":"Highlight","category":"Culture"}}]}