The Air Mail Archive: Every weekly issue

Issue No. 172

October 29, 2022

Horribli Familia

With the bombshell book The Courtiers and the new season of The Crown about to start, Stuart Heritage lays out the scandals, gripes, and problems with the world’s most well-known family

Fawlty Tower

From New York City, William D. Cohan reports on why Ty Warner, the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies, has Bill Gates fuming over his refusal to open the still-shuttered Four Seasons Hotel

Knife in the Pages

From France, Alexandra Marshall details the surprising and mystifying claims made by Emmanuelle Seigner, the wife of Roman Polanski, in her new book

Issue No. 171

October 22, 2022

10 Downing and Out in London

From the U.K., Stuart Heritage considers the smoldering wreckage of a former prime minister (and possible kink freak?!) known as Liz Truss

The Whole Earth Catalogue

On the 50th anniversary of its publication, Cullen Murphy revisits The Limits to Growth, the bracing environmental best-seller that changed the way we think about our planet

Getting Crafty

From the fashion world, Harling Ross Anton reports on how the Etsy aesthetic of knitting and crocheting has become this fall’s big style trend

Issue No. 170

October 15, 2022

Playing Doctor

From the digital domain, Eleanor Cummins reveals how TikTok videos about a thyroid disorder turned an obscure disease into a hot brand

Throw The Book at Him!

From New York, Michael Oreskes reports on new memoirs by former Trump associates detailing the shocking extent of the embattled former president’s destructiveness

10 Downer Street

As British P.M. Liz Truss sets out on a “charm offensive” to hold on to her job, Stuart Heritage points out that it’s tough to be charming when personality (or basic economics) is not one of your strong suits

Issue No. 169

October 8, 2022

Sexual Misconduct

From London, Flora Gill skewers the pathetic (and entirely unsurprising) cheating of sanctimonious, self-professed “wife guys,” such as Adam Levine

Grifter in Chief

From Washington, James Kirchick reports on the revelations in Confidence Man, Maggie Haberman’s highly anticipated biography of Donald Trump

Misrule, Britannia!

From the U.K., a gobsmacked Stuart Heritage tallies the wreckage wrought by an all-too-clueless Liz Truss in her first 30 days as prime minister

Issue No. 168

October 1, 2022

Kitchen Confidential

From France, Charles Leerhsen retraces Anthony Bourdain’s final, heartbreaking steps

Sisterhood of the Traveling Brownshirts

As neo-Fascist Georgia Meloni celebrates in Italy, George Pendle shows us how European women have seized control of far-right political parties to give their old ugliness a fuzzy legitimacy

The Revolution This Time?

As protests grip Iran, Hooman Majd reveals how the long shadow of the Shah’s fall haunts the ayatollahs

Issue No. 167

September 24, 2022

Desert Storm

From Riyadh, Eve Peyser reveals how social-media stars help the Saudi kingdom be seen as the new hot spot—and not the home of a regime that beheads journalists

Ah, Wilderness!

From Ucross, Judith Newman reveals what exactly goes on at a renowned artists’ retreat

Twitter for Twits

From the social network, Chris McGreal reports on how Trump’s alternative to Twitter is on the brink of becoming another one of his business failures.

Issue No. 166

September 17, 2022

Hoop Schemes

From Russia, Andrew Ryvkin reveals the backstory behind Putin’s possible swap of basketball superstar Brittney Griner for an ex-K.G.B. arms merchant

War and Remembrance

From the editing room, Ken Burns documents America’s role in the Holocaust, and how decisions made then still reverberate in today’s debates on immigration

Moscow on the Thames

From Westminster, Paul Caruana Galizia investigates the rise of the son of a former K.G.B. officer to Britain’s House of Lords

Issue No. 165

September 10, 2022

Portraits of a Lady

From London, George Pendle details how Cecil Beaton’s carefully composed photographs of Queen Elizabeth II played a crucial role in creating the image—and our memories—of the monarch

Scandal

From France, John von Sothen details the twisted crime that riveted the country: a retired business executive who had molested his daughter and granddaughter, and then murdered the therapist who was set to expose his sexual abuse

Red Skies Ahead

From the cockpit, Sam Kashner recounts the cloak-and-dagger Cold War maneuverings that allowed the U.S.S.R. to create the “Concordski,” a Soviet-era version of the Concorde

Issue No. 164

September 3, 2022

When Kush Comes to Shove

From the reading room, Alessandra Stanley contrasts Jared Kushner’s memoir with that of Mussolini’s son-in-law, and finds it, well, wanting

Man on the Run

From France, Michael Bronner takes us on the hunt for one of the most accomplished grifters in memory: Robert Freegard, the brainwashing genius and fascinating subject of his film Rogue Agent

Tunnel Vision

From London, biographer Tom Bower traces the final, tragic hours of Princess Diana

Issue No. 163

August 27, 2022

And the Beat Goes On

From the recovery room, William D. Cohan recounts the close call he had with his heart, and how a chance test from his doctor saved his life

Mind Games

From the director’s chair, Errol Morris looks at the HBO show The Rehearsal and asks whether Nathan Fielder’s players are willing participants or in fact subjects in an elaborate behavioral experiment

Goblets of Fire

From London, George Kalogerakis reports on the literary left’s campaign to silence and intimidate free-speech advocate J. K. Rowling

Issue No. 162

August 20, 2022

Heading for the Exits

With Trumpism growing ever more rabid and radical, Buzz Bissinger asks if it is, sadly, finally time to leave America

Factory Worker

From New York, Lili Anolik sits down with the sister of Andy Warhol’s muse, Edie Sedgwick, for a riveting conversation about what really happened between the superstar and the artist

Letter Bombs

From Ukraine, Robert Cooper and Will Cathcart meet the tech entrepreneurs who will drop your personalized missile on Russian troops—and film their destruction

Issue No. 161

August 13, 2022

All’s Not Quiet on the Eastern Front

From Moscow, Katya V. reveals the stark realities of life inside Russia, six months after Putin invaded Ukraine

That Sinking Feeling

In the second part of his riveting tale, Rich Cohen retraces what happened the night “murder boy” took his mother out into the dark Atlantic—and the fatal error that let prosecutors nab him

Search and Rescue

One year after United States military forces abruptly left Afghanistan, Lisa Wolfe shares the dramatic efforts to save young girls left behind by the American government

Issue No. 160

August 6, 2022

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

From Washington, Douglas McGrath asks if Liz Cheney might be better suited to be Joe Biden’s attorney general

That Sinking Feeling

From Connecticut, Rich Cohen retraces the twisted life of the young man neighbors called “murder boy.” Did he kill his mother and the family patriarch in order to get his inheritance?

In Orwell’s Footsteps

From Paris, Edward Chisholm recounts the horrors of the restaurant trade

Issue No. 159

July 30, 2022

The Digital Domain

Cazzie David explores the “anti-Instagram,” a French-owned social-media app called BeReal that is blowing up with the under-22 set

Funny Bone

Alan Zweibel wonders how he went from being so hip that he helped create Saturday Night Live to needing to have (gulp) hip-replacement surgery

Campfire Horror Story

From the North Woods, Johanna Berkman asks why accused pedophiles were permitted to work at a beloved summer camp for sons of prominent New York families

Issue No. 158

July 23, 2022

12-Stepping in Stilettos

Ivana Lowell remembers her rehab chum Ivana Trump—and how she handled life’s ups and downs

Disappearing Ink

From Brooklyn, Johanna Berkman reveals the curious saga of Jumi Bello, a rising literary star who was accused of plagiarism, saw her hotly anticipated debut novel canceled, and then repeated her crime

Making the Case

Attorney Michael Rips dismantles Trump’s sketchy January 6 defense strategy and details how it could guarantee prosecutors a conviction

Issue No. 157

July 16, 2022

Crazy like a fox? Or just crazy?

Errol Morris speaks with fellow documentarian Alex Holder about his new film on Trump’s final days in office—and what it reveals about the former president’s mental state

All in the Family

John Glatt details the twisted tale of a greedy northeastern Gen Z–er who authorities believe murdered his grandfather and mother in order to grab control of a multi-million-dollar estate

Flash News

Alexandra Marshall reports on how (and why) Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts, and other well-known women of a certain age are making menopause sexy—and profitable

Issue No. 156

July 9, 2022

The Road Less Traveled

Marcia DeSanctis falls under the spell of Kraków, one of Europe’s great cultural cities, which is especially eager to welcome tourists

Cloaks and Daggers

From London, Henry Schlesinger recounts the astounding life of Sir Hardy Amies, revered dressmaker to the Queen, costume designer for 2001: A Space Odyssey—and a Nazi-killing secret agent

The Pleasure Principle

Linda Wells, our beauty-and-wellness editor, reports on some rather stimulating news regarding women and sexual arousal

Issue No. 155

July 2, 2022

The Bitter End

Joel Stein perceptively notes that Larry David’s idea of a “spite store” has mutated from a clever joke into the twisted new code of conduct in the worlds of business and politics

At The Barricades

As Americans reel from an attack on the Constitution, James Fox recounts the lives of three women whose determination to defy subjugation shows the fight to come in the years ahead

Vidal Statistics

As the only biographer who remained on speaking terms with Gore Vidal, Matt Kapp reveals what it was like to work with the indomitable writer—and shares details of his final years

Issue No. 154

June 25, 2022

Flight Disruptions

Tarpley Hitt reveals the latest woe of high-flying .1-percenters—Gulfstream’s new fleet of private jets has serious landing issues

Modern Diplomacy

As Jim Kelly notes, for a man who once claimed that power was “the ultimate aphrodisiac,” it’s now clear that Henry Kissinger’s ultimate pleasure is the art of sucking up

Island Hopping

Elena Clavarino reports from Ibiza, where its MDMA-and-champagne-fueled party scene is being disrupted by upscale hippies who favor peyote-laced chocolate mousse from $68,000-per-week estates

Issue No. 153

June 18, 2022

Creature from the Bleak Lagoon

As the January 6 committee builds its shocking case against the former president, Graydon Carter shares his unique perspective as to how the orange-hued real-estate huckster’s lifetime obsession with lying almost culminated in the toppling of America

Mother’s Little Helper

Clara Molot reports on the alarming rise of the suburban “Glocker mom,” influencer-mothers who have taken to social media to praise the virtues of kids—and guns

Righting Wrongs

David Kaufman considers a recent California plan that proposes to pay reparations to descendants of enslaved people and argues that, while the idea is noble, for him the price will be too high

Issue No. 152

June 11, 2022

Irregular Programming

From New York, William D. Cohan reveals that accused sexual harasser Charlie Rose has uncanceled himself and rebooted his show. Will anyone watch?

Russki Business

Where’s an oligarch to tan his hairy back, now that Europe’s turned its back? As Mark Ellwood reports, there’s at least one town in Italy where they’ll still be spoiling our view

Workers of the World, Lie Down!

Julia Hobsbawm looks at the latest virus sweeping China: tang ping, which has burned-out young workers refusing to go to work. And now it seems to be quickly infecting offices in the West

Issue No. 151

June 4, 2022

The Decisive Moment

As America hides the photographic evidence of the horrors perpetrated inside a Texas classroom, Errol Morris reminds us that, 50 years ago, a single snapshot of a wounded girl in Vietnam transformed public opinion around the world

The (Very) Quiet American

From France, Whit Stillman uncovers the amazing story of the James Bond of the Loire Valley, a former J. C. Penney clerk from Minnesota who secretly saved de Gaulle from a coup in 1961

Bitter Pills

From London, Flora Gill reveals how young women have been driven from traditional means of birth control to much riskier alternatives

Issue No. 150

May 28, 2022

Clubbed

In New York, Hannah Seligson checks out the hilarious drama now playing at Aman New York, where members dropped $100,000 to join but find the amenities not close to what they were promised

Modern Times

Tenth-grader Khaleel Wright tells us how reading and writing help him cope with America’s never-ending gun violence

Photo Finish?

From France, Alexandra Marshall reveals the pathetic truths behind Emmanuel Macron’s sexy selfies, and why French politics will never be the same

Issue No. 149

May 21, 2022

All Troubled on the Eastern Front

Andrew Ryvkin reveals that Putin’s most dangerous threat to holding power comes not from the left but from the hard right, who believe he has actually gone soft on Ukraine

High Society

Jensen Davis reports on kratom, the Asian drug that’s an upper and a downer—and what everyone suddenly seems to be taking

Tale Dogs WAG

Stuart Heritage covers the foulmouthed, venom-spewing, knockdown, better-than-Depp-and-Heard, London courtroom-showdown drama between WAGs

Issue No. 148

May 14, 2022

Dim Lights, Big City

From the other side of midnight, Elena Clavarino reports on New York City’s hot new nightlife trend: roaming clubs that pop up and then vanish

Grape Expectations

From London, Joseph Bullmore reveals how two flimflammers allegedly snookered greedy wine snobs out of nearly $100 million

Four Score and Seven Smears Ago

From the campaign trail, Eric Hanson shows how easy it is to twist the truth about a candidate—even a very, very honest one

Issue No. 147

May 7, 2022

Barbarians Inside the Gates

From Wall Street, William D. Cohan looks at the revolt inside Goldman Sachs, where Gen Z bankers are telling C.E.O. (and part-time D.J.) David Solomon to take his back-to-the-office order and shove it

Social X-Rays

From the Upper East Side, Hannah Seligson pulls back the curtain on the hot new weight-loss trend among New York’s .01-percenters

Send in the Clown

From the West End, John Lahr takes in The 47th, the “ugly, rousing, cathartic” new play that captures Donald Trump as he plots his run for president in 2024

Issue No. 146

April 30, 2022

The Kids Aren’t Alright

Gen Z was going to save the planet. But as Cazzie David reports, a Chinese fast-fashion brand upended their climate activism

Justice At Last?

In part three of his report on writer Alice Sebold’s mistaken identification of her rapist, Howard Blum details the complicated road ahead for the man who served 16 years for a crime he didn’t commit—and now wants $50 million

Sultans of Style