The Air Mail Archive: Every weekly issue

Issue No. 222

October 14, 2023

THE CON, THE GRIFT, AND THE TWIST

It’s a story as old as the Internet: an exotic beauty rips off an unassuming man of apparent means—until, suddenly, he turns on her, and it’s impossible to tell who the bigger grifter is

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The Mossad was thought to be one of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence agencies until last Saturday’s attack on Israel. The ongoing question rattling Israelis: How did Hamas outwit them?

RUMOR CAMPAIGN

Jeffrey Toobin digs into R.F.K. Jr.’s troubled past and finds that the conspiracy-theorizing presidential hopeful once tried to frame two innocent men for murder

Issue No. 221

October 7, 2023

KISSING COUSINS

In eastern Paris, a 200-year-old religious cult’s nearly 4,000 members all hail from one of only eight families, relying on incest and ironclad secrecy to remain alive

WELLINGTON’S WATERLOO

In Florida’s ritziest horse town, the only people more competitive than power players’ show-jumping daughters are the real-estate developers who want to take it over

WITNESS PROTECTION

In the latest installment of his series on the Idaho student murders, Howard Blum tracks down a victim’s grief-stricken father as the alleged killer’s trial is postponed

Issue No. 220

September 30, 2023

NADINE (IS IT YOU?)

Introducing the second Mrs. Bob Menendez, the gold-loving, Chanel-wearing, Beirut-born bombshell the senator met in a New Jersey IHOP

MEN’S SEX AND THE CITY

Why is it that boyfriends and husbands think many times a day about the Roman Empire? Flora Gill looks at the rise and fall of the male mind

TO LASH A THIEF

Rédoine Faïd, the bank robber and jewel thief who daringly escaped from prison twice, is now on trial in Paris. But he is still a flight risk

Issue No. 219

September 23, 2023

Laws of Nature

From Sacramento, Alessandra Stanley suggests that the only way to really stop global warming is through litigation … and lots of it!

Fighting Words

From New York, Tom Wolfe’s daughter remembers her father as being gentle and amicable, except when it came to literary battles with his “Three Stooges”: John Updike, John Irving, and Norman Mailer …

Writing Wrongs

From Vermont, Kat Rosenfield reveals how Bennington College—the alma mater of Bret Easton Ellis and Donna Tartt—is being torn apart by a spat in its legendary writing program …

Issue No. 218

September 16, 2023

A Man In Full

From New York, Peter Stevenson and George Gurley recount the life and times of Tom Wolfe, the great chronicler of American social mores who, five years after his death, is roaring back into the public consciousness

Page Burner

From Scandinavia, Guy Walters argues that the recent spate of Koran burning in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark isn’t necessarily a sign that those countries are growing less liberal

Elon Agonistes

From Billionaires’ Row, Elon Musk biographer Walter Isaacson reveals the source of the entrepreneur’s “demon mode,” and his journey from being bullied in the playground to being bully-in-chief of X

Issue No. 217

September 9, 2023

Remembering Jimmy Buffett

From Margaritaville, the late King of the Parrotheads is recalled as a man who loved life and lived his songs, by friends including Bono and Tom Freston

Dress Code

From New York, James Wolcott takes a walk on the wild side with a history of drag, from Warhol’s hot messes to the current vibe shift against cross-dressing and gender-bending

Hard Times

From the newsroom, Adam Nagourney reveals how The New York Times dealt with the world-shaping events of 9/11—and how those events in turn shaped the paper’s future

Issue No. 216

September 2, 2023

Hot Water

From Nantucket, Clara Molot reports on the climate activists who gate-crashed a fundraiser for Massachusetts governor Maura Healey and were physically threatened by the liberal donors in attendance

Singing the Blue

From Virginia, Diana B. Henriques says that liberal critics of Oliver Anthony’s MAGA-beloved hit country song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” have got it all wrong

Desperately Seeking Sinatra

From New York, New Journalism legend Gay Talese recalls going deep into Frank Sinatra’s shady inner circle, in part two of our exclusive excerpt from his new memoir

Issue No. 215

August 26, 2023

Forest Grumps

From California, William D. Cohan reports on the drama at Bohemian Grove, the ultra-secretive, all-male campground beloved by Bill Gates and Clarence Thomas

Hunting Ol’ Blue Eyes

From New York, literary legend Gay Talese describes the painstaking reporting involved in his most acclaimed magazine piece, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” in an exclusive excerpt from his new memoir

Barb-arians at the Gate

From Hollywood, Stuart Heritage contemplates the truly terrifying consequences of Barbie’s box-office success

Issue No. 214

August 19, 2023

Up, Up, and Away

From the editors’ desk, Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley unveil AIR MAIL’s reimagined Arts Intel Report, our one-of-a-kind resource for the discerning world traveler

Death and Taxes

From New York, Johanna Berkman chronicles how the financier Leon Black thought he could avoid paying more than $1 billion in taxes—with the help of his friend Jeffrey Epstein—in part two of her exclusive investigation

Dirt Digger

From the courtroom, Jack Crosbie reveals the identity of Sam Bankman-Fried’s private investigator, whose previous clients include O. J. Simpson, Ghislaine Maxwell, and John Gotti Jr.

Issue No. 213

August 12, 2023

Below the Law

From Washington, D.C., Jeffrey Toobin reveals how a midlife crisis transformed the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, a mild-mannered “nerd among nerds,” into Co-Conspirator 5, the mastermind behind Trump’s fake-elector plot

Death of a Master

From Hollywood, Graydon Carter hymns the protean originality of the late filmmaker William Friedkin, who could be exceptionally charming, or charmingly cantankerous, depending on the day

Nocturnal Animals

From downtown, Jake Malooley unveils an eye-opening oral history of After Hours—the black comedy that revived Martin Scorsese’s career—featuring Griffin Dunne, Catherine O’Hara, and Scorsese himself

Issue No. 212

August 5, 2023

Dark Money

From New York, Johanna Berkman untangles the sordid links between the billionaire financier Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein to reveal a world of fine-art collecting, high-end Russian escorts, and alleged sex trafficking

In the Shadow of a Doubt

From the campaign trail, Jonathan Darman wonders whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s conspiracy theories are a sign of the times or, rather, of a fine old American tradition

Kicking and Screaming

From the U.K., Jonathan Margolis reports on the disastrous first season of the world’s only carbon-neutral, Palestine-supporting, vegan soccer team—and their ultra-violent head coach

Issue No. 211

July 29, 2023

Defense of a Suspect

From the courtroom, Howard Blum’s latest dispatch on the Idaho student murders reveals a new defense angle, clouding the case against alleged killer Bryan Kohberger

Going AWOL

From Israel, Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv report on the elite soldiers who say they will not show up for duty in protest of Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to tame the courts, as talk of a civil war grows

Nuclear Family Man

From the archives, as Robert Oppenheimer gets his day in the light of a thousand suns, Lesley M. M. Blume uncovers Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little author E. B. White’s decades-long campaign against Oppenheimer’s atomic progeny

Issue No. 210

July 22, 2023

Not So Charming

From Italy, Beatrice Borromeo pulls back the curtain on the Prince of Naples—the heir to the Italian throne—and the German model who tried to bring him to justice for the callous killing of her beloved brother

Striking Behavior

From Paris, Alexandra Marshall reports that French journalists are on strike—mais bien sûr!—but this time, they might have a point

Freaky Friday

From Boston, John Glatt tells the astonishing story of Shelby Hewitt, a 32-year-old social worker who infiltrated a number of different high schools posing as a teen as young as 13

Issue No. 209

July 15, 2023

MARTIAN LAW

From the edge of space, Rich Cohen reports on the latest breaking developments in U.F.O.-ology—a U.S. Air Force whistleblower! A crashed alien spacecraft! Congressional hearings!—and why now is the time to start believing. No, really!

INTO THE WILD

From London, Simon Callow recalls how the cultured exterior of his friend the late actor Julian Sands masked a wild man who kicked down Callow’s front door and branded him with a coat hanger

FIGHT OF THE VALKYRIES

From the orchestra pit, John Mauceri muses on why Putin’s chef turned mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, named his supposed anti-Nazi mercenary group after Hitler’s favorite composer. And how do you pronounce it?

Issue No. 208

July 8, 2023

LONG ISLAND ESPRIT

From Montauk, Vincent Fremont looks back at how Andy Warhol’s beach house in the once sleepy fishing village played host to Jackie O, Truman Capote, Lee Radziwill, and many others

DÉJÀ PROFUMO

From the archives, newly declassified intelligence reports about Britain’s orgy-filled Profumo affair remind Calder Walton of Russia’s attempts to put Trump in the White House

LADY BOSS

From Hollywood, Rory Green reveals how her mother, the blockbuster novelist Jackie Collins, reveled in her ability to shock, and instilled in her daughter her own fiery brand of feminism

Issue No. 207

July 1, 2023

ON THE ROCKS

From Milan, Elena Clavarino reports on a gruesome murder involving a bartender at the prestigious Bamboo Bar, his pregnant girlfriend, and his wronged mistress

THE END OF THE RAINBOW

From the culture wars, David Kaufman laments how the hyperfocus on transgender issues in the L.G.B.T. movement has kicked the L’s, G’s, and B’s to the curb

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

From the U.K., Michael Odell speaks to the BBC’s “booker extraordinaire” about her months-long quest to secure that Prince Andrew interview

Issue No. 206

June 24, 2023

PARKS AND INCARCERATION

From New York, Jeffrey Toobin observes that Linda Fairstein, the trailblazing female prosecutor who sent the Central Park Five to prison, has been exiled from polite society, while one of the Five is now running for City Council

DOUBLING DOWN

From Las Vegas, Michaela Seward reveals the story of Sara King, a beautiful, gambling-addicted fraudster who thought she’d mastered the Las Vegas slot machines, until she started losing—big

VULGAR ON THE VOLGA

From Moscow, Tom Parfitt reports on the bling-filled, oligarch-funded compound Vladimir Putin has created for his ex-wife and daughters, complete with a $72,000 gold-plated chandelier

Issue No. 205

June 17, 2023

SIGNOR SCANDAL

From Italy, Alessandra Stanley observes that for all of Silvio Berlusconi’s bunga-bunga parties, spray tans, and corruption charges, the late P.M. was still more likable than Trump

PRINCE OF WAILS

From London, Camilla Long witnesses the bizarre performance of Prince Harry, the first royal to stand in a witness box in 130 years

FOURTH TIME’S NO CHARM

From New York, William D. Cohan pulls back the curtain on the messy legal battle between the late publishing giant Richard Snyder and his sticky-fingered fourth wife

Issue No. 204

June 10, 2023

Temper of our Times

From quarrels at the White House to brawls at the Waffle House, anger is quickly becoming the defining feature of our decade. Mind the smoke emanating from the Raging 20s

Chips Ahoy

From Silicon Valley, how the multi-billionaire founder of Nvidia, chipmaker to the A.I. revolution, may well destroy humanity

The Mormonic Inferno

From Utah, the grisly tale of the young mother of three who allegedly poisoned her husband before self-publishing a children’s book dedicated to him

Issue No. 203

June 3, 2023

HELL’S COOK

From Russia, Andrew Ryvkin reveals that Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s chef turned mercenary, aspires to be Donald Trump, Kremlin-style

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WHITE MEN

From Hollywood, Sam Wasson reflects on the Oscars’ new diversity quotas and what they mean for the future of the motion-picture industry

Armie Hammer: Coda

From Los Angeles, James Kirchick revisits his exclusive interview with the actor as sexual-assault charges against him are officially dropped

Issue No. 202

May 27, 2023

YES! OUI! CANNES!

From Cap d’Antibes, we offer an inside look at the AIR MAIL–Warner Bros. Discovery party at the picturesque Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc

THE RUB OF TIME

From the editor’s desk, Graydon Carter recounts how Martin Amis grappled with growing old yet never lost his fizzy linguistic fireworks

STATE OF TERROR

From the art world, Alexandra Bregman untangles an alleged $160 million fraud scheme that spanned 10 years, 52 family members, Picassos, and Warhols

Issue No. 201

May 20, 2023

The View from Here

Graydon Carter on the glories of the Cannes Film Festival

Beating the System

Apocalypse Now almost broke Francis Ford Coppola. Then it broke the box office

The Château That Ate Provence, Part III

The gaudy, illegally built château that just won’t quit

Issue No. 200

May 13, 2023

LEAVING IN STYLE

From Palm Beach, Bridget Foley interviews Tom Ford about his fashion fights and his obsession with death, as he steps down from his eponymous label

RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE

From Sudan, Peter Mennin recalls being caught in Khartoum as the civil war erupted, and escaping the country by the skin of his teeth

INVESTOR RELATIONS

From Wall Street, William D. Cohan explores the irregular friendship between Goldman Sachs C.E.O. David Solomon and the property developer Mike Meldman, creator of havens for the hyper-rich

Issue No. 199

May 6, 2023

Career Suicide

From Idaho, Howard Blum probes deep into the mind of alleged student murderer Bryan Kohberger, a smart criminal-justice scholar caught by the very methods he studied

Religious Sexts

From Germany, Laura Moser unravels the sordid web of pornographic messages, sexual harassment, and academic fraud surrounding one of the country’s most powerful rabbis

The People’s Paparazzo

From the U.K., Henri Cartier-Bresson’s street photographs hearken back to the time England crowned its last king

Issue No. 198

April 29, 2023

WAILING TOWN

From Nantucket, Clara Molot reports on the housing crisis that has seen tiny fishermen’s cabins selling for millions of dollars on the tony island, and the murky forces at play behind the scenes

FRENEMY OF THE STATE

From Buckingham Palace, Lois Rogers reveals how Wallis Simpson coldly betrayed her childhood best friend in her insatiable quest to become Queen of England

ABOVE THE GLASS CEILING

From the first-class lounge, Rich Cohen charts the unashamedly sexist history of the Executive, the men-only flight that offered free cigars and unlimited cocktails in the Mad Men era

Issue No. 197

April 22, 2023

New Dogs, Old Tricks

From the editor’s chair, Graydon Carter charts how high-end thievery and unaccountability in the U.S.—from Clarence Thomas’s holidays to Jared Kushner’s Saudi kickbacks, to Trump’s staggering frauds—are starting to resemble Russia’s after the fall of the Soviet Union

Trumpsclusive!

From Mar-a-Lago, we present MAGAzine! The hugely anticipated second volume of the Official Lifestyle Publication of Your Once and Future Favorite President features Marjorie Taylor Greene’s fashion tips, a sneak peek at Trump’s Memorial Service, and much more!

The Trial That Never Was

From Delaware, Mark Bowden reports on the shocking last-minute settlement that ended the Dominion vs. Fox trial before it even began

Issue No. 196

April 15, 2023

The Chicago Way

From the newsroom, Alessandra Stanley suggests that the only way to deal with the Russian arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is to hit Putin back Untouchables-style

Courting Disaster

From Westchester, William D. Cohan uncovers how an upmarket country club’s squash program has been a hotbed of steamy affairs and sexual harassment

Leaving in Style

From the Upper East Side, Sam Kashner goes behind the scenes at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, which has ushered everyone who’s anyone—including Succession’s Logan Roy—into the hereafter