The House Always Wins
Sara King, the self-proclaimed “slot whisperer” of Las Vegas, used other people’s money to bet big. Then her luck ran out
The Attention-Whore Index
Joe Biden makes a novel play for your attention. But can he beat such grizzled showboaters as Harry and Meghan, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump?
Changing Places
Linda Fairstein put Yusef Salaam in prison for the attack on the Central Park jogger. He was exonerated and is running for office; she is excoriated and living as a pariah
Françoise Gilot
Picasso’s muse and lover who left him after 10 abusive years continued a successful career as an artist and memoirist in her own right
Surprise Ending
When former Simon & Schuster C.E.O. Richard Snyder died last week, he left two things in his wake: a legacy as a difficult but revolutionary publisher, and a fourth wife who wanted it all
Criminals Yesterday, Influencers Today
From O. J. Simpson to Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, Amanda Knox to the Tinder Swindler, ex-cons are social media’s new favorite thing
O Father, Where Art Thou?
Ignoring paternal advice can have long-standing consequences
Rocket Woman
The most powerful politician in North Korea might not be “little rocket man” but his gatekeeper, chief adviser, and sibling, Kim Yo-jong
Prince of Wails
Harry spends hours and hours on the stand yet fails to provide any evidence that his phone was hacked during his $12.5 million therapy session
The View from Here
Silvio Berlusconi, the lying, womanizing, orange-tinted former Italian P.M. who died this week, resembled Trump, but not as much as they say. For one thing, he had charm
A Flap over a Mop
Some people tip their hairdresser. Boris Johnson gave his an M.B.E.
The Bookman Goeth
Nobody read more—or faster—than Robert Gottlieb
The Attention-Whore Index—Grand-Master Edition!
Sometimes you have to bow to the experts. For all Harry’s wails and Trump’s moans, the real masters of neediness can be found on Instagram
Strange Bedfellows
Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s studies of human sexuality required many eager test subjects. One—the cult writer and filmmaker Kenneth Anger—became an unlikely lifelong friend
Bend It Like M.B.S.
As the Gulf states jockey for control of the Arabian Peninsula, they’re waging battle through an unlikely proxy: European football
The Attention-Whore Index
Elon Musk rules the roost. Chris Licht gets the boot. Can Prince Harry reclaim his throne? Plus: the oddest news from around the world
Poison Pen
A Utah mother of three allegedly killed her husband to collect on his life-insurance policy. Then she wrote a bereavement book for kids
Rise of the Senior Swiftie
It’s not just tweens and teens who are knocked out by Taylor Swift. She’s a hit with the boomers too
Grave New World
Jensen Huang used to clean toilets. Now he runs a trillion-dollar A.I. company that could change the course of history
The View from Here
Where the 1960s had love and the 1980s greed, the 2020s are quickly being defined by anger. Forget the Roaring 20s—welcome to the Raging 20s!
Trump on the Volga
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s chef turned mercenary, is a gaudy egomaniac with a message: Make Russia (and me) Great Again
The View from Here
For 95 years, the Oscar for best picture signified excellence. What will it mean when the Academy starts enforcing its new eligibility rules?
The Future Is Female—and Not in a Good Way
From Amazon’s Alexa to Apple’s Siri, A.I.’s female defaults are teaching our youngest generations to associate women’s voices with obedience
The Attention-Whore Index
An unstable tech billionaire, a disgraced Republican politician, and a needy hereditary monarch walk into a bar: Who gets the most attention? You decide!
