July 12, 2025 – Air Mail

THE FABULOUS FABULIST

To his friends, Matthew Pietras was a free-spending socialite, a Broadway angel, a philanthropist, and a Soros employee. Then real life—and death—caught up with him …

BENCHED TRIAL

The killer of the four University of Idaho students who pleaded guilty to avoid a possible death sentence had another motive for his confession …

FALSE GODS

A pair of magnificent bronze statues discovered in the Calabrian sea may actually have been looted by the Mob and placed there in an antiquities-smuggling scheme …

A BOOM BOOM ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

Substack, the no-nonsense publishing platform for independent writers, has taken to throwing niche literary parties hosted by a former downtown provocateur …

LONGEVITY ISLAND

Tech bros who want to live forever—and in luxury—are flocking to a low-to-no-tax libertarian community off the coast of Honduras …

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE HANDSOME

A new book examines the life and extraordinary career of Clint Eastwood, the spaghetti-Western antihero and movie star who became—and remains—the nation’s most venerable and versatile auteur …

POSEIDON ADVENTURE

The beau monde of Greece has its own version of the Amalfi Coast: a stretch of coastline from Athens to Cape Sounion that’s the perfect place for spa luxury, fresh fish, and an ancient temple …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE …

Paris’s Grand Palais gets a facelift … André Bishop, the multi-hit wunderkind, has left his post as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater … the new Superman battles superhero fatigue … and our Employee of the Month is Scott Ruskan, the rescue hero of Camp Mystic, in Texas …

Issue No. 313

The View from Here The horrific case of the four murdered Idaho students ended last week, not with a bang but with a plea bargain

By Howard Blum

Read On

Was My Friend a Fraud? Matthew Pietras worked for the Soros family, donated millions to museums, and produced a fistful of Broadway shows. So why did it all feel make-believe?

By Jane Boon

Read On

Scott Ruskan, the Coast Guard swimmer who rescued approximately 165 people, mostly children, from the devastating flash floods at Camp Mystic, in Texas.

“I kind of discovered I was the only person there as far as first responders go. [It was] kids mostly. All scared, terrified, cold, having probably the worst day of their life. And I just kind of needed to triage them, get them to a higher level of care and get ’em off the flood zone.”

Photo: USCG

The Old Bronzes and the Sea A new investigation suggests the Riace bronzes, long a point of pride for Calabrians, were not found in the land of Ulysses but, rather, smuggled there

By Elena Clavarino

Read On

The Summer-Holiday Packing Guide

Sardinia? The Cyclades? Minorca? Perhaps you’re an early adopter of the Balkans. No matter where your summer holiday takes you, you need to pack. AIR SUPPLY is here to get you there

Shop

Photo: Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Getty Images (Turlington)

Daisy Knatchbull’s Favorite Things The founder of Knatchbull, the first Savile Row tailor for women only, keeps Khaite jeans, Augustinus Bader Geranium Rose Body Oil, and a Lack of Color sun hat in her kit

Shop

Substack’s Secret Weapon The former downtown darling giving the San Francisco V.C.-backed company its edge

By Jason Diamond

Read On

The Attention-Whore Index Elon Musk proposes a new party, Donald Trump floats a new fragrance, and Emmanuel Macron struggles to be seen

By George Kalogerakis

Read On

read The Woman with Fifty Faces Lying about her name, age, and self-proclaimed fame, the 1920s ever aspiring film actress Maria Lani…

Visit Net-a-Porter x Mr. Porter If summer in East Hampton simply isn’t complete without a sound bath, Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter…

carry Aidan Aidan’s Apollo S Passenger Overhead “Advanced” carry-on nails the essentials: durable materials, smooth-rolling wheels…

SHOP Boucheron Need another excuse to book a flight to LAX? Boucheron has opened its first boutique in Los Angeles, on Rodeo Drive.…

cut Wolf & Blade In a city now overrun with members’ clubs—for the uptown set, the downtown set, the Euro set, the creative set, and the…

sip Non For oenophiles looking to go dry, Australia’s Non has developed its own proprietary approach, with 0-percent-alcohol recipes…

read The Woman with Fifty Faces Lying about her name, age, and self-proclaimed fame, the 1920s ever aspiring film actress Maria Lani…

Visit Net-a-Porter x Mr. Porter If summer in East Hampton simply isn’t complete without a sound bath, Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter…

carry Aidan Aidan’s Apollo S Passenger Overhead “Advanced” carry-on nails the essentials: durable materials, smooth-rolling wheels…

SHOP Boucheron Need another excuse to book a flight to LAX? Boucheron has opened its first boutique in Los Angeles, on Rodeo Drive.…

cut Wolf & Blade In a city now overrun with members’ clubs—for the uptown set, the downtown set, the Euro set, the creative set, and the…

sip Non For oenophiles looking to go dry, Australia’s Non has developed its own proprietary approach, with 0-percent-alcohol recipes…

Elonophobia That’s it. I’ve had it

By John Ficarra

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

Moby Dish Wild orcas have started presenting food to humans. Is this a sign of interspecies rapport or a devious new hunting method?

By Rhys Blakely

Read On

Live Long and Próspera How a quasi-autonomous island enclave in Honduras became a haven for billionaires who want to live forever

By Stephen Gibbs

Read On

Exit, Pursued by Applause The hit-making artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater—André Bishop—steps down after 33 years

By Michael Riedel

Read On

A Grand Scale Paris’s Grand Palais has undergone a $546 million renovation that could well turn it into an attraction to rival the Eiffel Tower

By Adam Sage

Read On

Superman’s Homecoming Will a divided America embrace the return of a kind superhero long known for championing peace and standing with immigrants?

By Jonathan Dean

Read On

Clara Bingham On

Access: Inside the Abortion Underground and the Sixty-Year Battle for Reproductive Freedom

by Rebecca Grant

Read On

Eastwood Bound Clint Eastwood has dominated Hollywood for longer than most anyone else—all while containing countless contradictions

By Shawn Levy

Read On

A Hungarian in Paris A new coffee-table book collects Brassaï’s photographs of the City of Light, his adopted home and muse for more than 50 years

8

*Couple of Lovers in a Small Café on Place d’Italie,* by Brassaï, circa 1932.

*The Sun King,* from the ninth series, titled “Primitive Images,” 1930s–50s.

*Fog in Paris. Léon-Paul Fargue’s Taxi,* circa 1932.

*The “Môme Bijou” at Bar de la Lune, Montmartre,* 1932.

*Couple with a Sailor from the Eiffel Tower Bridge,* circa 1932.

*Couple at the Quatre-Saisons Dance Hall on Rue de Lappe,* 1932.

Read On

The Grift of His Friendship On this week’s podcast, Jane Boon reveals the man she thought she knew … but didn’t

Read On

Cinephilia, Italian-Style How a film festival showing nothing but old movies became an international hit

By Will Tavlin

Read On

A self-portrait by Marta Astfalck-Vietz, circa 1927.

Breaking Bad

Career. Reputation. Legacy. In the art world, these can all hang by a thread. No one knew this better than Marta Astfalck-Vietz, a photographer and painter who operated during the heady days of late-1920s Weimar Berlin. Astfalck-Vietz was an experimental pioneer of the “combi-photo” and a taboo-breaking explorer of her own body, but her entire archive of negatives was destroyed in 1943, when an Allied bombing raid incinerated her studio. READ ON

Read On

Charlotte Cardin With her fame on the rise, the 30-year-old singer is staying true to her Quebecois roots

By Clara Molot

Read On

Classic Greece How to spend summer there like a local? Start with a coastal drive along the Athenian Riviera

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

“Never bring a swordfish to a narwhal fight.”

Amy Astley

The editor of Architectural Digest answers 36 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

I sketched these soldiers from the Northern Storm Brigade of the Syrian National Army in Latakia back on March 7. New government forces, comprising both Sunni state and non-state actors, were slaughtering Alawites amid their clashes with armed, pro-Assad loyalists. The massacre would last for several days, with the death toll rising to upward of 1,000 people, including more than 700 civilian men, women, and children. It’s a horrible reminder of the fragile freedom in Syria and the significant difficulties that the new Syrian state now faces.

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King George Pendle Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editor

Elena Clavarino

Investigations Editor

Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Junior Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

Associate Editors

Victoria Herman Lucy Horowitz

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Deputy Art Director

Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Head of Communications and Film/TV Development

Harrison Vail

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 Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch 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

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

Interns

Hannah Gross Charlie St. John

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

In Memoriam

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

The View from Here The horrific case of the four murdered Idaho students ended last week, not with a bang but with a plea bargain

Was My Friend a Fraud? Matthew Pietras worked for the Soros family, donated millions to museums, and produced a fistful of Broadway shows. So why did it all feel make-believe?

The Old Bronzes and the Sea A new investigation suggests the Riace bronzes, long a point of pride for Calabrians, were not found in the land of Ulysses but, rather, smuggled there

Sardinia? The Cyclades? Minorca? Perhaps you’re an early adopter of the Balkans. No matter where your summer holiday takes you, you need to pack. AIR SUPPLY is here to get you there

Daisy Knatchbull’s Favorite Things The founder of Knatchbull, the first Savile Row tailor for women only, keeps Khaite jeans, Augustinus Bader Geranium Rose Body Oil, and a Lack of Color sun hat in her kit

Substack’s Secret Weapon The former downtown darling giving the San Francisco V.C.-backed company its edge

The Attention-Whore Index Elon Musk proposes a new party, Donald Trump floats a new fragrance, and Emmanuel Macron struggles to be seen

Elonophobia That’s it. I’ve had it

Moby Dish Wild orcas have started presenting food to humans. Is this a sign of interspecies rapport or a devious new hunting method?

Live Long and Próspera How a quasi-autonomous island enclave in Honduras became a haven for billionaires who want to live forever

Exit, Pursued by Applause The hit-making artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater—André Bishop—steps down after 33 years

A Grand Scale Paris’s Grand Palais has undergone a $546 million renovation that could well turn it into an attraction to rival the Eiffel Tower

Superman’s Homecoming Will a divided America embrace the return of a kind superhero long known for championing peace and standing with immigrants?

Eastwood Bound Clint Eastwood has dominated Hollywood for longer than most anyone else—all while containing countless contradictions

A Hungarian in Paris A new coffee-table book collects Brassaï’s photographs of the City of Light, his adopted home and muse for more than 50 years

The Grift of His Friendship On this week’s podcast, Jane Boon reveals the man she thought she knew … but didn’t

Cinephilia, Italian-Style How a film festival showing nothing but old movies became an international hit

Charlotte Cardin With her fame on the rise, the 30-year-old singer is staying true to her Quebecois roots

Classic Greece How to spend summer there like a local? Start with a coastal drive along the Athenian Riviera

The editor of Architectural Digest answers 36 of life’s most pressing questions

Is Edited By

Creative Director

Deputy Editors

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Senior Editor

Investigations Editor

Photo Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Junior Editors

Associate Editors

Art Director

Senior Photo Editor

Deputy Art Director

International Editor

Head of Communications and Film/TV Development

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Audience Growth Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Technology

Interns

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Chief Merchant

Shop Editor

E-Commerce Manager

In Memoriam