{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"September 5, 2026 – Air Mail","description":"Welcome to Air Mail Issue number 373.","favicon":"https://static.airmail.news/assets/icons/apple-touch-icon.png","home_page_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5","feed_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5.json","items":[{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-view-from-here","title":"The View from Here","content_text":"We all know something has gone very wrong. The feeling runs rampant that we’re living in a screwy simulation, like in The Matrix, or that we somehow drew the worst possible card from the multiverse’s deck. The only question is when precisely we veered off the “normal” timeline. A recent essay in The New York Review of Books posited Joe Manchin’s pulling his support from the Build Back Better Act, in 2021, as “the moment when reality forked.” That might be a stretch, unless your reality also includes working at Axios.More common answers include Joe Biden’s disastrous 2024 ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-view-from-here","summary":"We all know something has gone very wrong. The feeling runs rampant that we’re living in a screwy simulation, like in The Matrix, or that we somehow drew the worst possible card from the multiverse’s deck. The only question is...","tags":["The View from Here","But First ..."],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/wwrb67sx0hifwy8e4paiyna1d64m-3b65688d55976baac1c46e970f6ae0e0.jpg","author":{"name":"Bruce Handy"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/bruce-handy\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eBruce Handy\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"From the box office to the ballot box, America is stuck in reverse","shorts":false,"banner":"But First ...","category":"The View from Here"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/barry-blitts-sketchbook","title":"Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/barry-blitts-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Barry Blitt's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/rl68keusrr0srlhedyywmnb2t5j8-9e93e997d120380c43626b4dcb112ea9.jpg","date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":null,"subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Barry Blitt's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-mourning-edition","title":"The Mourning Edition","content_text":"Christine Kay, an assistant Metro editor, came running up to my desk. This was on Sept. 13, 2001, and we were in the newsroom of the old New York Times building on West 43rd Street. Two days before, the World Trade Center had been hit by two hijacked planes and destroyed. We were all still in shock; the city still smelled like smoke. She said she needed someone to edit victim profiles.That someone was me. So began what remains, 25 years later, the assignment of a lifetime. For more than a year, as a rookie staff editor, I ran Portraits of Grief, the paper’s effort to create biographical sketches of each and every person who died at the World Trade Center. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-mourning-edition","summary":"Christine Kay, an assistant Metro editor, came running up to my desk. This was on Sept. 13, 2001, and we were in the newsroom of the old New York Times building on West 43rd Street. Two days before, the World...","tags":["News","lives, abbreviated"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/0fk4mdalkkv2deqt7z520wnhhedo-dd128f9d1faea49b51e8b4bf5812aa96.jpg","author":{"name":"Wendell Jamieson"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/wendell-jamieson\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eWendell Jamieson\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"After 9/11, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c/em\u003e’s Portraits of Grief became a defining memorial to those killed at the World Trade Center—but not every family welcomed what the paper chose to remember","shorts":false,"banner":"lives, abbreviated","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-fall-of-chinas-most-hated-billionaire","title":"The Fall of China’s Most Hated Billionaire","content_text":"The figure in the dock, his jet-black hair turned white since his last appearance three years ago, will almost certainly never be seen in public again. And a good thing too, many in China will tell you.Hui Ka Yan was once Asia’s richest man, yet for many of his countrymen, he was little more than a caricature of extravagance, with his gold-buckled belt, 200-foot mega-yacht and ludicrously expensive London house.So when Hui was jailed for life, there was widespread glee that a man who once insisted on keeping a minion on hand to mop his brow with a hot towel had received his comeuppance. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-fall-of-chinas-most-hated-billionaire","summary":"The figure in the dock, his jet-black hair turned white since his last appearance three years ago, will almost certainly never be seen in public again. And a good thing too, many in China will tell you.Hui Ka Yan was...","tags":["News","Bubble Trouble"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/m3k1pdbfsuihher0hny169lhogs6-4618b687e278cfefbcff71164edc4a82.jpg","author":{"name":"Adrian Blomfield"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/adrian-blomfield\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAdrian Blomfield\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Hui Ka Yan built a $45 billion fortune through Evergrande’s property empire. Its collapse ruined millions—and pushed China to flood the world with goods","shorts":false,"banner":"Bubble Trouble","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/writing-in-bed-with-eve-babitz","title":"Writing in Bed with Eve Babitz","content_text":"In 1970s Los Angeles, all the boys wanted to sleep with Eve. I was one of the lucky ones, along with some movie stars, rock ’n’ roll stars, art stars, and one wild and crazy comedy star. But, not being in that class, I wasn’t mentioned in the obituaries.Eve described me in Slow Days, Fast Company as “one of those steadfast New York City comedy writers … who had never become a Californian \u0026#8230; never learned to sail, never bought a Porsche or Mercedes and never talked about movies in terms of how much money they made.” Fairly accurate. My car of choice was a VW Beetle: I wanted to get to work. Laurel Canyon was lined with the corpses of expensive cars. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/writing-in-bed-with-eve-babitz","summary":"In 1970s Los Angeles, all the boys wanted to sleep with Eve. I was one of the lucky ones, along with some movie stars, rock ’n’ roll stars, art stars, and one wild and crazy comedy star. But, not being...","tags":["Arts and Letters","All about eve"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/3ypxe0vma3mk0y2jfugjn3zd7ib7-0a40be7654c63e7a95ec83399573ca39.jpg","author":{"name":"Michael Elias"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/michael-elias\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMichael Elias\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"It’s the 1980s, and Hollywood’s best—and most beautiful—writer wants you to write a screenplay with her. Can you keep up?","shorts":false,"banner":"All about eve","category":"Arts and Letters"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-air-mail-diary","title":"The AIR MAIL Diary","content_text":"As summer faded, the world shifted on its axis, albeit for a small and ever shrinking number of people, when it became clear that Montecito’s loss (“They wave. They drive. They close the gates,” one resident told The New York Times) would be England’s gain (“I’m not especially happy about it, because they trashed the whole country numerous times,” a Londoner enthused to the BBC). Unsettling. But remember: to everything there is a season, a time to this, a time to that, a time to something something—yes, here it is—a time to pluck up and uproot de-Megxit.Elsewhere, as we bear down on autumn: ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-air-mail-diary","summary":"As summer faded, the world shifted on its axis, albeit for a small and ever shrinking number of people, when it became clear that Montecito’s loss (“They wave. They drive. They close the gates,” one resident told The New York...","tags":["News","News of the World"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/gn9q88p5foteq82pceghapohqgbe-59b27edfeb1e0b74d17ffa31859a4a61.jpg","author":{"name":"George Kalogerakis"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/george-kalogerakis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGeorge Kalogerakis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The Chinese love disasters! The Italians hate texters! Nobody will visit North Korea! And other strange stories from around the globe …","shorts":false,"banner":"News of the World","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/van-cleef-arpels","title":"Van Cleef \u0026 Arpels","content_text":"The perennial clover that adorns each piece of the Van Cleef \u0026 Arpels Alhambra collection just got a brand-new, rose-colored look ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/van-cleef-arpels","summary":"The perennial clover that adorns each piece of the Van Cleef \u0026 Arpels Alhambra collection just got a brand-new, rose-colored look ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/tw9zcsusix47gtrhnxf3akcurvff-4eecaf0abf09f6eddce1304c34a9e16b.png","author":{"name":"Maggie Turner"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/maggie-turner\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMaggie Turner\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"sparkle","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/a-new-leaf","title":"A New Leaf","content_text":"Elaine May cut her teeth as an improvisational comedian alongside Mike Nichols before finding her wickedly sharp, wry writer’s voice ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/a-new-leaf","summary":"Elaine May cut her teeth as an improvisational comedian alongside Mike Nichols before finding her wickedly sharp, wry writer’s voice ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/aegm1rojsjfyoajqr62mq1yged3j-0cc175b9c0f1b6a831c399e269772661.png","author":{"name":"Eve Eismann"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_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/2026-9-5/better-living-through-chemistry","title":"Better Living Through Chemistry","content_text":"Before “Praise You” skyrocketed Norman Quentin Cook, otherwise known as Fatboy Slim, to total ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/better-living-through-chemistry","summary":"Before “Praise You” skyrocketed Norman Quentin Cook, otherwise known as Fatboy Slim, to total ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/hcvbs0ndou54vp8q270radn8wvqv-92e02ccdb7a4978b0e742b9f6bd7c438.png","author":{"name":"Gabriella Maestri"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gabriella-maestri\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGabriella Maestri\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"listen","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/money-to-burn","title":"Money to Burn","content_text":"For years, William D. Cohan has chronicled the sins of the rich and powerful for AIR MAIL, from Nantucket to Westchester","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/money-to-burn","summary":"For years, William D. Cohan has chronicled the sins of the rich and powerful for AIR MAIL, from Nantucket to Westchester","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/som7g3u2jgk8g14bozfxnyez9oex-d013c7496d443690fdfc60d28217b02e.png","author":{"name":"Paulina Prosnitz"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_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/2026-9-5/symbol-audio-x-usm","title":"Symbol Audio x USM","content_text":"I’d describe my interior-design taste as similar to that of Bunny Williams—traditional, colorful, lived-in—but there are days I fantasize ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/symbol-audio-x-usm","summary":"I’d describe my interior-design taste as similar to that of Bunny Williams—traditional, colorful, lived-in—but there are days I fantasize ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/qnqwi4kx93c6f5ufdc58iwq51xa6-206a03595f4413fadc87aaaa1d333ced.png","author":{"name":"Gracie Wiener"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gracie-wiener\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGracie Wiener\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"shop","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/middlemen","title":"Middlemen","content_text":"There are excellent books about literary editors—A. Scott Berg on Maxwell Perkins and Amy Reading on Katharine S. White come to mind ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/middlemen","summary":"There are excellent books about literary editors—A. Scott Berg on Maxwell Perkins and Amy Reading on Katharine S. White come to mind ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/l077zzpys24hh3mlecesn4gg2wab-18246cc55800750d0e3e7f7bfa6551dc.png","author":{"name":"Jim Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_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/2026-9-5/the-man-who-ate-paris","title":"The Man Who Ate Paris","content_text":"“The food is so disgusting that you’d be better off getting sodomized than eating here,” was the sign-off to the first Instagram restaurant review posted by @Yann_Vous_Cuisine, a 44-year-old Paris food critic who conceals his identity behind the handle.Sixteen months after his savage takedown of L’Avenue, the fashion-world canteen on swanky Avenue Montaigne, Yann has become a major thorn in the side of Paris chefs and restaurant owners. When he dines out, his verdicts are unvarnished and occasionally incendiary. At Brasserie Lipp, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, he pronounced its lauded veal chop “burned and ruined,” adding, “Rats have been running ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-man-who-ate-paris","summary":"“The food is so disgusting that you’d be better off getting sodomized than eating here,” was the sign-off to the first Instagram restaurant review posted by @Yann_Vous_Cuisine, a 44-year-old Paris food critic who conceals his identity behind the handle.Sixteen months...","tags":["Food and Drink","Crème de la Crude"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/txve05xaazau00o1631o5f3rim21-dee862bdc7c761ca8be7aa4a47860a25.jpg","author":{"name":"Alexander Lobrano"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/alexander-lobrano\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAlexander Lobrano\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"He wears wigs, trashes legendary pâtissiers, and terrifies the city’s top chefs. Meet Yann, the viral critic rattling France’s culinary establishment","shorts":false,"banner":"Crème de la Crude","category":"Food and Drink"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/surfs-up","title":"Surf’s Up!","content_text":"Jeff Divine spent five decades at Surfer magazine. He joined as a staff photographer in 1971 and later became the photo editor, a vantage point that allowed him to witness—and document—much of modern surfing history. Pipeline, on Oahu’s North Shore, in its early-1970s golden age. Jeffreys Bay, on South Africa’s Eastern Cape, as it emerged as an international surfing destination. The first boat expeditions into Indonesia’s remote Mentawai Islands. And the rise of Kelly Slater, who would become the sport’s most decorated champion.Using Kodachrome slide film and a 1,000-mm. lens, Divine shot from the water at Sunset Beach—another ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/surfs-up","summary":"Jeff Divine spent five decades at Surfer magazine. He joined as a staff photographer in 1971 and later became the photo editor, a vantage point that allowed him to witness—and document—much of modern surfing history. Pipeline, on Oahu’s North Shore,...","tags":["Books","Open Book"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/01ib9qmxai0wqy7du2hn97wsj63i-ae31e37e2f7bbaebddfa1a46d5b13652.jpg","author":{"name":"Elena Clavarino"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/elena-clavarino\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eElena Clavarino\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"A dazzling new coffee-table book captures five decades of American surfing culture through Jeff Divine’s lens","shorts":false,"banner":"Open Book","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/8/chipp-shape","title":"Chipp Shape","content_text":"What sort of person shopped at Chipp? For G. Bruce Boyer, the former Town \u0026 Country editor, the answer was a character like Phineas from John Knowles’s A Separate Peace: “The one who used his school necktie as an impromptu belt and then charmed the headmaster’s wife by saying that he knew it was wrong but it would’ve been worse if his trousers fell down at the Sunday tea. That is the archetypal Chipp customer.”Like the Andover Shop and other traditional clothiers, Chipp grew out of J. Press. But it was always the bad boy of the family, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/8/chipp-shape","summary":"What sort of person shopped at Chipp? For G. Bruce Boyer, the former Town \u0026 Country editor, the answer was a character like Phineas from John Knowles’s A Separate Peace: “The one who used his school necktie as an impromptu...","tags":["Style","Elements of Style"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/o6jg8nnl49pe4knqmufca9f9t1xp-8f94038ec2fbac9161da4d4955551890.jpg","author":{"name":"Constantine A. Valhouli"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/constantine-a-valhouli\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eConstantine A. Valhouli\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"How the legendary Ivy League tailor dressed everyone from J.F.K. to Andy Warhol—and brought color, wit, and a little anarchy to the button-down look","shorts":false,"banner":"Elements of Style","category":"Style"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/invisible-men","title":"Invisible Men","content_text":"In a country like Jamaica, where consensual sexual activity between men remains illegal, a large shopping bag can serve a secondary purpose. In a memorable scene from Marlon James’s new novel, The Disappearers, which begins in 1988, a young man who is coaxed into a toilet stall for sex steps into said bag so that “whoever comes checking will see two legs, not four.” For all the situation’s inherent hilarity, James is making a more serious point: in Jamaica, being caught in the act can spell death.James’s novel has been long-listed for the Booker Prize; the title evokes all those men, and more rarely women, in Jamaica whose lives have been erased by murder, exile, or ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/invisible-men","summary":"In a country like Jamaica, where consensual sexual activity between men remains illegal, a large shopping bag can serve a secondary purpose. In a memorable scene from Marlon James’s new novel, The Disappearers, which begins in 1988, a young man...","tags":["Books"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/u2c5cxxw1g9pyg2xqhjmr9qscjq1-d37d546090b169bb3e886638f7f86e8d.jpg","author":{"name":"Tobias Grey"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/tobias-grey\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eTobias Grey\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Books","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-ken-burns-of-youtube","title":"The Ken Burns of YouTube","content_text":"The most original filmmaker working in the United States today isn’t a Safdie, an Eggers, or an Aster, nor any of their A24-backed contemporaries. It’s an auteur who makes documentaries not on 35-mm. film but with the decidedly uncinematic Google Earth. His films don’t premiere at Cannes but on YouTube.If you crossed Ken Burns with Adam Curtis and raised the result on a 56K modem, you might get a documentarian like Jon Bois, the 43-year-old, Brooklyn-based sportswriter and creative director at SB Nation. His métier is statistics, but his real talent is finding something unexpectedly moving beneath the statistical overkill of American sports. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/the-ken-burns-of-youtube","summary":"The most original filmmaker working in the United States today isn’t a Safdie, an Eggers, or an Aster, nor any of their A24-backed contemporaries. It’s an auteur who makes documentaries not on 35-mm. film but with the decidedly uncinematic Google...","tags":["Modern Times","stats entertainment"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/353kcaurv1ig9yvgtiinpnswho8f-0cc175b9c0f1b6a831c399e269772661.jpg","author":{"name":"Spike Carter"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/spike-carter\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSpike Carter\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Jon Bois makes documentaries about athletes named Bob, baseball brawls, and the worst team in N.B.A. history. Why are they so moving?","shorts":false,"banner":"stats entertainment","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/christine-safa","title":"Christine Safa","content_text":"Christine Safa paints from memory. “Maybe it’s to preserve something that I am afraid is going to go away,” says the 32-year-old artist. She grew up in the western suburbs of Paris, but often returned to Lebanon, her parents’ home country, to see family in Beirut and spend holidays in the mountains and by the sea. Back in France, she painted the landscapes that stayed with her. “It’s [about] trying to remember a certain feeling, or how the sun was setting on my face in one particular moment,” she says.Her latest solo show, opening Wednesday at New York’s Bortolami Gallery, is a meeting of Safa’s two worlds: Lebanon and the Paris suburbs, where she now lives with her husband and dog. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/christine-safa","summary":"Christine Safa paints from memory. “Maybe it’s to preserve something that I am afraid is going to go away,” says the 32-year-old artist. She grew up in the western suburbs of Paris, but often returned to Lebanon, her parents’ home...","tags":["Culture","Close-up"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/3kybw612vcuknpkidxiofnkrrnp6-4c0b838eb2292754bcba4a25d353ef2f.jpg","author":{"name":"Nadine Zylberberg"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/nadine-zylberberg\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eNadine Zylberberg\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"For the 32-year-old artist—a rising figure in the Paris art world—memories of Lebanon’s coasts and mountains are never far off","shorts":false,"banner":"Close-up","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/home-sweet-home","title":"Home Sweet Home","content_text":"When the Bayeux Tapestry goes on display at the British Museum, a historic 10-month loan that begins next Thursday, it will be seen in a whole new way. Due to a recent conservation report that revealed nearly 10,000 holes and over 24,000 stains, the tapestry’s fragility requires that it not be hung vertically. Instead, in a showcase specially built for the occasion, the 230-foot medieval masterpiece will be laid flat in one continuous length. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/home-sweet-home","summary":"When the Bayeux Tapestry goes on display at the British Museum, a historic 10-month loan that begins next Thursday, it will be seen in a whole new way. Due to a recent conservation report that revealed nearly 10,000 holes and...","tags":["Culture","Highlight"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/wiw4894jozjemab0wa2etkmzj5ro-57197a464b40e6531acb0b0a4e9907f7.png","author":{"name":"Tobias Grey"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/tobias-grey\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eTobias Grey\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The Bayeux Tapestry, a medieval embroidery that has long fascinated storytellers such as George R. R. Martin, returns to England for the first time in 1,000 years","shorts":false,"banner":"Highlight","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/room-to-roam","title":"Room to Roam","content_text":"It’s hard to grasp the scope of 172,000 acres. It’s larger than the city of Chicago, which makes it sound big, or half the size of Rhode Island, which somehow makes it sound less big. In any case, that’s the size of Trinchera, the impressive high-alpine reserve and lodge in Fort Garland, Colorado, which once belonged to publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes and is now, to our good fortune, open to the public.There are only 16 rooms, with additional accommodations in two private houses and a handful of backcountry cabins, so it never feels crowded. It’s almost comical having ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5/room-to-roam","summary":"It’s hard to grasp the scope of 172,000 acres. It’s larger than the city of Chicago, which makes it sound big, or half the size of Rhode Island, which somehow makes it sound less big. In any case, that’s the...","tags":["Travel","View With a Room"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/u513s2oheqbxp0u27x5euwdf4w40-1b9137281a742e0e78094765c8467b01.jpg","author":{"name":"David Coggins"},"date_published":"2026-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"September 5, 2026","date":"2026-09-05","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-9-5"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/david-coggins\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eDavid Coggins\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Malcolm Forbes’s former Colorado retreat, a 16-room lodge set on 172,000 acres in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, offers high-alpine wilderness on the scale of a national park","shorts":false,"banner":"View With a Room","category":"Travel"}}]}