The Air Mail Archive: Every weekly issue

Issue No. 137

February 26, 2022

MAGA-a-Lago Quislings in Training

With Trump and his cronies lavishing praise on Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, Douglas McGrath ponders how shockingly low the Republican Party has sunk

Dispatch from the Front

Will Cathcart gets caught between Ukrainian fighters and an advancing Russian force

(Don’t) Meet the Parents!

From Greenwich, Connecticut, Rich Cohen spins the sordid tale of a mother of four who secretly videotaped her kids’ friends messing around in her $10 million mansion

Issue No. 136

February 19, 2022

Slick Ice

Bill de Blasio brayed that he’d bar Donald Trump from managing Central Park’s Wollman Rink. So why, asks Johanna Berkman, did Trump’s pals get the contract?

Me Write Pretty One Day

James Wolcott dares to read Our Journey Together, Donald Trump’s $75 coffee-table book glorifying his presidency, where his “writing” consists of tweet-like captions beneath big, shiny pictures

California Screamin’

Todd S. Purdum registers how liberal Angelenos are reacting to high crime and homelessness

Issue No. 135

February 12, 2022

Prime Mover?

Alexandra Marshall takes a second look at Lauren Sanchez, the woman Jeff Bezos can’t keep his hands off of—and who also just might be the most powerful woman in America

Spirit Squad!

Former cheerleader (and top media executive) Bonnie Hammer has eight tips for Joe Biden and other leaders on what they need to do to raise our optimism

A Profitable Crime Branch

George Pendle takes us inside the bizarre, multi-billion-dollar global smuggling ring that’s bringing rosewood to China’s nouveau riche

Issue No. 134

February 5, 2022

From Watergate to Mar-a-Lago

The Watergate break-in happened 50 years ago, but Alessandra Stanley traces today’s post-Trump political dysfunction to Nixon’s “third-rate burglary”

The Grifters I

William D. Cohan unspools the tale of Hollywood’s millennial Madoff, a failed actor from Indiana who bilked his friends out of $227 million

The Grifters II

As the fraudster Anna Sorokin gets the Netflix treatment in a limited series, her former friend (and victim) Rachel DeLoache Williams weighs in on Sorokin’s profiting from her crimes

Issue No. 133

January 29, 2022

Putin on the Blitz!

From Russia, Andrew Ryvkin reports on how Vladimir Putin’s delusional belief in his anti-West lies has brought Europe to the brink of war

Sex Lives and Videotape

Al Gore may think he invented the Internet, but as George Kalogerakis reminds us, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s grainy 1995 sex tape really jump-started the Web—and a Hulu limited series!

Islands in the Schemes

Mark Ellwood reports on the fabled (and now fading?) island of Mustique, where a new just-say-no vibe has driven decadents-in-exile to Bequia

Issue No. 132

January 22, 2022

Always in Fashion

Graydon Carter remembers his longtime friend and singular colleague André Leon Talley, a truly towering talent in the world of style

Old Money, New Marks

Steve Kroft and Howard L. Rosenberg reveal a string of audacious high-end jewel thefts from Newport to Georgetown, and wonder if a distinguished guest is the culprit

Made You Look … Again

Barry Avrich shows why 2022 is set to be the biggest year ever for art forgery and fraud

Issue No. 131

January 15, 2022

Scent of a Scoundrel

Christopher Mason reports on the stench engulfing Guerlain, France’s oldest perfume house, as the heir is accused of abusing his elderly father

The Great White (and BIPOC?) Way

Michael Riedel details how Broadway, reeling from coronavirus shutdowns, is grappling with demands to confront various inequalities

Here to Stay

Sam Kashner remembers his friend and mentor, Peter Bogdanovich, and shares details of the script they were completing at the time of his death: a love story about George and Ira Gershwin

Issue No. 130

January 8, 2022

The Last Picture Show

Graydon Carter recalls Peter Bogdanovich, a friend of many generosities and talents

Famiglia Feud

Rachel Donadio dishes the dirt on the battle between a former Playboy centerfold and her princely Italian stepsons that has sent a $531 million Roman villa to the auction block

The Roots of Crime

From the U.K., Stuart Heritage shares the very strange story of the tree killer stalking the tiny town of Poole

Issue No. 129

January 1, 2022

Parting is Such Sweet Pleasure

John Ficarra tallies up the 14 people, trends, and annoyances that left us (fortunately!) in 2021

Welcome to 1984

Ian Bremmer warns us that Facebook and other data titans have become the 21st century’s true superpowers. Have Zuck & Co. already defeated democracy?

Life B4 Studio 54

Michael Callahan transports us to El Morocco, the star-studded, super-exclusive epicenter of New York nightlife from 1939 to 1969

Issue No. 128

December 25, 2021

Enter Laughing

Sam Kashner recounts the astounding (and uproarious) life of S. J. Perelman, the man who re-invented American humor

From Rags to Britches

Adrian Brune catches up with Sir John Bird, who grew up homeless, spent decades running a street newspaper, and now sits in the House of Lords

Road Trip!

Fifty years after Dennis Wilson and James Taylor tried to jump-start movie careers in Two-Lane Blacktop, Jason Guriel fires it up and takes us for a spin

Issue No. 127

December 18, 2021

Crimes of the Heart

In part two of his riveting story, Howard Blum details how acclaimed author Alice Sebold helped send an innocent man to prison for a rape he did not commit

Larry Christmas to All!

Everyone’s favorite grinch, Larry David, breaks down his holiday-survival strategies

What Was Lost

On the 10th anniversary of the death of Christopher Hitchens, Graydon Carter looks at his friend’s legacy

Issue No. 126

December 11, 2021

Fiction vs. Fact

Howard Blum tracks down the sleuths who proved an innocent man had been imprisoned for the rape of best-selling author Alice Sebold

Explosive Company

Andrew North gives a tart review of a lunch he had in Kabul with a suicide bomber

Canadians Behaving Badly

George Kalogerakis fills us in on a multi-billion-dollar family feud that makes Succession look like The Brady Bunch

Issue No. 125

December 4, 2021

Ab Fabulist

Bill Adair confronts Stephen Glass, the reporter whose lies nearly crushed the New Republic—and discovers a stunning new chapter that defies belief

Blood Test

Rich Cohen analyzes accused fraudster Elizabeth Holmes’s dramatic testimony, and explains why she pulled such a risky move

First in Line, Last in Tact?

From Windsor Castle, Stuart Heritage looks at a new book that reveals the royal “racist” whom Meghan and Harry would not name

Issue No. 124

November 27, 2021

Rated Double G

Tom Ford, the former creative director of Gucci, sizes up Ridley Scott’s big-budget take on Italy’s operatic fashion family

Rubber Souls

On the release of the new Beatles documentary, David Kamp faces the hard truth that their long and winding road is coming to an end

Sunrise, Sunset

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the film version of Fiddler on the Roof, Peter Biskind catches up with Norman Jewison, the now 95-year-old goy who directed it

Issue No. 123

November 20, 2021

Talking Turkey—and More

From the kitchen, Alison Roman shares her insights on what you should—and should not—do for Thanksgiving dinner

Touché, cliché!

Looking for someone who’s “got your back” on your “journey” to “think outside the box”? John Darnton has the “bandwidth” and shares his “takeaways”

Dressed to Kill

Sara Gay Forden wrote the book on the Gucci murder, and now details the twisted, shocking truths behind House of Gucci

Issue No. 122

November 13, 2021

F Troop

Nina Burleigh reveals the bizarre truths behind the conspiracy-loving fanatics who tried to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

Plots of the Plutocracy

Is wokeism actually an evil-genius scheme of the super-rich to retain power? Alessandra Stanley examines the evidence

The Paper Chase

Steve Carell, Ricky Gervais, John Krasinski, and other Dunder Mifflin–ers recount the unlikely story of how the U.S. version of The Office came to be

Issue No. 121

November 6, 2021

“Eyes! I have eyes!”

Judith Newman tries to understand Emily Ratajkowski’s misery over the burden of her beauty

The Blood Turns Cold

Rich Cohen has a theory you may not like about the Theranos jurors

From the Pitch

Beautiful game, beautiful boss: Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham savors her moment

Issue No. 120

October 30, 2021

Wise Guys

Mark Seal reveals how Mario Puzo got sweet-talked into writing the script for The Godfather—and found the perfect partner in Francis Ford Coppola

3:10 to Huma

As Todd S. Purdum points out, Hillary’s right hand gets a handle on Weiner, but not on her muse and boss

Skimpy Dipping

Flora Gill exposes herself—and just about everyone else—to Kylie Jenner’s ridiculously revealing new swimsuits

Issue No. 119

October 23, 2021

Family Ties

From New York, Mark Seal recounts how a debt-laden, struggling writer named Mario Puzo turned his gambling addiction into The Godfather

Keep ‘Em Coming

Judith Newman asks if Gwyneth Paltrow’s new sex-advice show is self-help or infomercial?

Failure to Launch

Why Jeff Bezos is losing the billionaires’ space race to his arch-nemesis, Elon Musk

Issue No. 118

October 16, 2021

Creative Split

From New York, Rich Cohen explains how Harry Macklowe’s epically calamitous divorce has billionaire art collectors salivating

The Ever Shrinking Island

In London, John Sweeney confronts the spoils of Boris’s Brexit: empty pantries, gas lines, labor shortages, and a long, cold winter

K-Pop Goes the Weasel!

From Squid Game to Parasite to music stars, Korean culture is conquering the world

Issue No. 117

October 9, 2021

Union Busters

From Wall Street, William D. Cohan looks at the bare-knuckle law firm that specializes in the divorces of Goldman Sachs executives

The Venality of Evil

From New York, Alessandra Stanley considers Dopesick, about the OxyContin-peddling Sackler family, who represent the worst of this Grifted Age

Devil in the Details

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff rips through the pages of Stephanie Grisham’s faux confessional

Issue No. 116

October 2, 2021

The Unreal World

In L.A., Jensen Davis goes inside the Ten Thousand building, a high-rise reserved for the child gods of social media

Holidays in Hell

From New York, Michael Mungiello recounts how a false-positive rapid test scuttled a trip to Greece and landed him on the no-fly list

Othello on the Hudson

John Ficarra imagines how Andrew Cuomo, New York’s former, uh, hands-on governor, now fills his days

Issue No. 115

September 25, 2021

Zuck My Life

Cazzie David considers the countless evils Facebook has unleashed on the hearts and minds of young girls, as well as its secret club that allows V.I.P.’s to spread banned content

Box-Office Poison

Sam Wasson tours Hollywood’s new $250 million Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and finds it just like today’s movies: bloated, woke, and lacking plot

Creative Deferences

In what may have been his last written story before his death, Richard Buckley describes the creative process of his longtime husband, the designer Tom Ford

Issue No. 114

September 18, 2021

Let Them Eat Fake (News)

From Pelosi to Melania, every woman is ridiculed as “a Marie Antoinette.” Yet, as Nancy Goldstone writes, this misunderstood queen was smarter than we know

Bloodbath

In Part III of his coverage of Elizabeth Holmes’s fraud trial, Rich Cohen turns a skeptical eye to her defense strategy

Right, What’s All This, Then?

From the U.K., Stuart Heritage reports that Scotland Yard is wondering why Prince Charles took several large donations from a Russian oligarch once convicted of money-laundering

Issue No. 113

September 11, 2021

Good-Bye To All That

Twenty years after 9/11, former Marine officer Elliot Ackerman wonders what will become of us as a nation

Southern Gothic

George Kalogerakis detangles the bizarre story of the murders and mayhem in South Carolina’s Murdaugh family

The House Bush Built

Clair MacDougall shares the twisted inner workings of Guantánamo Bay, and one man’s decades-long quest for release

Issue No. 112

September 4, 2021

Blood Simple

As accused inventor-grifter Elizabeth Holmes goes on trial, Rich Cohen reminds us how the Theranos founder deceived the best and brightest of Silicon Valley, Washington, and New York

Lake Woe-Be-Never-Gone

In the Hamptons, Anisah Abdullah holds her nose to learn why some of America’s most expensive homes look out on one of its filthiest lakes

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Mark Rozzo reveals how Dan Tana’s, in Hollywood, became the clubhouse for everyone from John Wayne to George Clooney

Issue No. 111

August 28, 2021

New Frontiers

Diana de Vegh reveals what it was like to be a Radcliffe undergrad having a passionate affair with a man who became an American president

The Social Nitwork

Nimrod Kamer reports on the latest bungling by the Winklevoss twins, who have fallen in with two conniving tech-bro twins

Goop Overboard!