Fifty Shades of Romantasy
How a genre fusing romance and fantasy—replete with kinky elves—took over best-seller lists and women’s nightstands everywhere
Who’s Afraid of the Internet Novel?
The latest wave of fictions attempting to capture life online is more damaged and dissociative than ever before
Warning Signs
Publicly, Winthrop Bell was known as a standout Harvard professor. Secretly, the British spy was the first to raise the alarm about World War II
Director’s Cut
In the 1970s, Stanley Kubrick fought to block the publication of The Magic Eye, a book lightly critical of his films. Now, it’s finally getting published
Photography’s Années Folles
George Hoyningen-Huene’s portraits of everyone from Josephine Baker to Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, and Frank Capra—collected in a new book—evoke the style and glamour of the 20th century
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss Frank Bruni’s study of grievance, a humorist’s investigation into subtle distinctions, and a biography of Harry Truman
From Anthem to Elegy
Six gifted young poets signed up to fight in World War I. In their disillusionment, Michael Korda sees a cautionary tale for our time
Arts and Drafts
Five years after leaving New York magazine, Adam Moss discusses the state of media today, how he fills his days, and his new book about art
Cool-Head Larry
In an interview, Larry David covers all things baldness—transplants, Russian leaders, beards—and reveals the one thing he enjoys about having no hair
On the Scent
Tracking down the essential oils that become perfumes took one fragrance aficionado to far-flung places, from Bulgarian rose fields to Somalian mountains
High Life, Low Life
In his new book, the photographer Dafydd Jones captures a bygone New York, an era of new and old money, La Grenouille and Le Cirque
Playing Hardball
Separating the man from the myth of Pete Rose, one of baseball’s most fabled—and controversial—stars
Murder, They Wrote
The settings for this month’s best mystery books range from the Las Vegas underworld to cosseted suburban London
Renaissance Women
A new book spotlights four forgotten female writers who were contemporaries of Shakespeare’s but cut out of history