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Issue No. 21

The View from Here

Perhaps you’re suffering from Scandal Fatigue. Or some version of PTSD (President Trump Stress Disorder). If you feel you are, you certainly wouldn’t be alone…

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Kusama Ad Infinitum

Once the haunt of the avant-garde, installation art has matured into a 21st-century mass-culture phenomenon. There is no better evidence of this evolution than the immense popularity of Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored “infinity rooms.” READ ON

Yayoi Kusama in With All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever, 2011. In New York, “Yayoi Kusama” is on through December 14 at the David Zwirner gallery. In Boston, “Yayoi Kusama: Love Is Calling” is on through February 7 at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

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Discover

Naughty Nights with Randy Andy Models, masseuses, and (ahem) more were part of the princely pleasures of the Duke of York. One fellow partyer lived to tell the tale …

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In Cold Blue Blood

The mystery of the missing French aristocrat who vanished after murdering his wife, children, and dogs
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Melania Diaries,
Part II
An exclusive excerpt from Melania Trump’s (completely unverified) private journal

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The Blinder Side The author of Moneyball and Liar’s Poker wants to take on climate change, but cannot find the right antihero to champion

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Small Talk
“I can’t believe I waited this long to get a financial-support animal.”

Stranger Things Is Happening In London, obsessive fans of the show can now live in Hawkins, Indiana—and follow in the steps of Mike, Dustin, and the gang

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EPISODE III: “Is It the Ganja Talking?” More correspondence from Lansy Everett, formerly of the New York Herald Tribune, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Mademoiselle, Vogue, Worth, and Harper’s Bazaar

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Imperial Japan’s Last Casualty General Shiba Goro did not fight in World War II, but he chose to die for it

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Small Talk
“Sir, your sitting here and drinking coffee while simply musing is making our guests uncomfortable.”

The Calm Before the Storm A letter from Hong Kong

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Troubled Waters The world’s oceans now have more plastic than fish

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Must-See Events

It’s Murphy’s Law, Live! Mischief Theatre, the comedy group that gave us The Play That Goes Wrong, gets a new series

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Small Talk
“Wait, all the screaming, and cheering, and swearing—you’ve been faking liking football the whole time?”

The Proust of the Nazi-Appeasement Set

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Style
Small Talk

About a Girl

When Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and an occasional pianist, proposed teaming up for Franz Schubert’s 70-minute Winterreise (Winter Journey), the mezzo-soprano superstar Joyce DiDonato had her doubts. Each of the cycle’s 24 songs is in its own way a station on a jilted lover’s descent into alienation. Again and again, he finds his state of mind reflected in images of wintry desolation: a weathervane whipped around in the wind, one last leaf trembling on a branch, a crow winging overhead. Not once does the poet Wilhelm Müller—a minor romantic who but for Schubert would be forgotten—abandon the wayfarer’s point of view. But what went wrong with his love affair? READ ON

The mezzo-soprano superstar Joyce DiDonato with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. DiDonato is set to perform Winterreise at Carnegie Hall, in New York, on December 15.

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Discover

Deborah Levy Recommends the books whose authors were as fascinating as their work

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Open Book

Behind the Scenes A new book pulls back the curtain on London’s
most beautiful theaters

Books

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era

by Gareth Russell
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Retreat from Moscow: A New History of Germany’s Winter Campaign, 1941–1942

by David Stahel
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A Stone Sat Still

by Brendan Wenzel
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Wells of the World The author of a new book on H. G. Wells’s writings on re-discovering his life and work

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The Nature Hater’s Guide to Safari Rickety old airplanes, disease-carrying flies, manic wildlife—how will a city slicker survive in Africa’s toniest camps?

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Cool Hand Luc Thanks to the sense and sensibility of new creative director Luc Goidadin, Smythson of Bond Street is looking smarter than ever

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Best
CARTER FAMILY and Mother Maybelle CARTER and Helen CARTER and Anita CARTER and June CARTER; The Carter Family L-R Anita, Helen and June with Mother Maybelle (front) Watch Country Music Ken Burns is probably the country’s most prominent documentary director, a state-supported chronicler… Listen Detective Trapp In 2017, Christopher Goffard brought us Dirty John, the story of a strange and sadistic grifter… Eat Henne If you ask about Berlin’s Henne, some may tell you it’s been open for more than 100 years, that J.F.K. once dined there… Man Ray chess setUSA, 1920 / 1947anodized aluminum1 dia × 2 h in3 × 5 cm Play Man Ray Chess Set Man Ray was not nearly the chess fiend that his lifelong friend and fellow Surrealist Marcel Duchamp was… Drive Fomm One The world’s smallest four-seat electric vehicle, which goes on sale in Japan next year, is a futuristic car… Shop James Veloria A Chinese mall under the metal railing of the Manhattan Bridge is probably the last place you’d expect… CARTER FAMILY and Mother Maybelle CARTER and Helen CARTER and Anita CARTER and June CARTER; The Carter Family L-R Anita, Helen and June with Mother Maybelle (front) Watch Country Music Ken Burns is probably the country’s most prominent documentary director, a state-supported chronicler… Listen Detective Trapp In 2017, Christopher Goffard brought us Dirty John, the story of a strange and sadistic grifter… Eat Henne If you ask about Berlin’s Henne, some may tell you it’s been open for more than 100 years, that J.F.K. once dined there… Man Ray chess setUSA, 1920 / 1947anodized aluminum1 dia × 2 h in3 × 5 cm Play Man Ray Chess Set Man Ray was not nearly the chess fiend that his lifelong friend and fellow Surrealist Marcel Duchamp was… Drive Fomm One The world’s smallest four-seat electric vehicle, which goes on sale in Japan next year, is a futuristic car… Shop James Veloria A Chinese mall under the metal railing of the Manhattan Bridge is probably the last place you’d expect…

Julian Taffel and Paolina Leccese Nostalgia and newness gracefully coexist in these young designers’ re-invented classic

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View With a Room

Cuixmala Confidential The late Sir James Goldsmith’s idyllic hideaway on Mexico’s Pacific Coast is now welcoming (a few select) guests


Split Waterman Charismatic, risk-taking, gun- and gold-smuggling motorcycle star lived on the edge

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Small Talk
“So now I guess I’ll have to meet your friends.”

A Very Air Mail Holiday The Kentucky Cardinal cocktail

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Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Deputy Editors

Chris Garrett Michael Hainey George Kalogerakis Nathan King

Design Director

Angela Panichi

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Style Editor

Ashley Baker

Articles Editor

Ash Carter

Senior Editor

Julia Vitale

Columnists

Cazzie David Emma Freud Walter Isaacson
Pico Iyer John Lahr James Wolcott


Photo Director

Ann Schneider


Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster


Assistant Editors

Elena Clavarino Clementine Ford Alex Oliveira


International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

London Editor

Bridget Arsenault


Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Photo Editor

Emine Gozde Sevim

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editor

Elinor Schneider


Chief Operating Officer

Bill Keenan

Chief Marketing Officer

Emily Davis

Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Integrated Marketing Manager

Madeline Spates

Intern

Eshaan Jain

Issue No. 21
December 7, 2019
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Issue No. 21
December 7, 2019

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