This week, Legs McNeil reports on the murder of Melvin Combs—the man who was Sean “Diddy” Combs’s father. As Legs reports, “Pretty Boy Melvin,” who had links to the notorious drug kingpin Frank Lucas, was gunned down in 1972, possibly by New York City’s Gambino crime family for being a snitch. Then Jonathan Margolis reports on why Londoners may find themselves with a shortage of drinking water. And finally, we have a look at a bookshop in London that is a favorite haunt of espionage agents.

This week, in lighter matters, John Lahr joins us from London to give us his take on the new stage version of Dr. Strangelove. Then Emilie Hawtin joins us from New York City to tell us about the fashion item that has been a favorite of the doyennes and uptown gents for the past 70 years but suddenly is being snapped up by Gen Z–ers and Hollywood actors.

This week, Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley explain why this election is the final legacy of the baby-boomers—and why Trump is the most lasting and unpleasant legacy of this generation. Then Clara Molot joins us with her shocking report revealing how an employee at an elite boarding school allegedly downloaded photos from 70 under-age female students’ laptops. And finally, Piet Mondrian is seen as one of the supreme artists of the 20th century. Yet in many ways, he’s as elusive and...

Lili Anolik looks at a question that’s always intrigued the literati—what exactly was the nature of the relationship between Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne? Then our man in Paris, John von Sothen, reports on one poll that has been quite reliable at predicting the winner of the U.S. presidential election: it’s conducted at Harry’s Bar among expats. And finally, it was 25 years ago that anarchists stormed a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle to protest...

This week, Sam Kashner reveals what happened when a huge luxury yacht owned by Mike Lynch, Britain’s first Internet billionaire, sank in 15 minutes during a freak storm off the coast of Sicily, killing Lynch, his teenage daughter, and five others. Then George Pendle explains why politicians now out-scandalize rock stars. And finally, our own Ashley Baker looks at Noor Alfallah, a 30-year-old woman who has notched relationships with multiple boldface names over the age of 80, including Clint...

When it was released just over 25 years ago, The Big Lebowski was a flop with critics. Now it is regarded as among the funniest movies ever made, one by which we all, well, abide. Josh Karp tells us how it came to be, the people who inspired it, and those who turned down roles in it. Can you imagine Mel Gibson playing the Dude? It almost happened. Then Melania Trump was in the news this week as her memoir entitled—what else?—Melania was released. Andy Borowitz has read it, and he tells us all...

The presidential election is 31 days away, which means it’s crunch time for the candidates. And we have a special guest who knows all about crunch time and campaigns: political strategist James Carville. He’s the subject of a new documentary called Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid, and he shares his insights on the race, American politics, and more. Then, speaking of politics, there’s no place where they are more mixed up at times than Italy. Mattia Ferraresi joins us from Rome to...

Fifty years after Hunter S. Thompson brought us Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, we have a look at a 21st-century Vegas that is unlike anything you could ever imagine. Our writer Darius J. Rubin traveled to Laos, where an opulent casino lies at the heart of a vast human-drug-and-wildlife-trafficking operation, and he shares his report. Then, we all know Elaine May, who was Mike Nichols’s partner in the transformative comedy duo Nichols and May. She’s 92 now and has not retired, and Roger...

If you’re still trying to understand what exactly is, or was, a Brat summer, you are not alone. These days, “vibe trends” are increasingly incoherent—whether it is “the strawberry girl summer” or “hot rodent boyfriend.” Fortunately, the always wise Cazzie David joins us to make sense of all the madness. Then, many of you know the tragic story of Dorothy Stratten, the former actress and Playboy Playmate who was murdered by her husband in 1980. It was a horrible ending to her life, and this...

This week, Mark Seal brings us part two of his story about Sergio Pino, the millionaire real-estate developer at the center of a murder case that has shocked the seemingly un-shockable home of bizarre and scandalous crimes: Florida. Then, speaking of scandals: What happens when one of New York’s tony private schools decides that a homeless shelter will take over one of its buildings? Well, the neighborhood’s long-standing liberal pieties are put to the test. Sage Lattman will take us inside...

This week, Paulina Prosnitz and Carolina de Armas reveal the victims of the Vogue Wedding Curse and explain how it strikes. Then Mark Seal looks at a murder scheme that shocked the seemingly unshockable state of Florida—when a millionaire real-estate developer named Sergio Pino allegedly poisoned his wife of 32 years when she demanded a divorce. And finally, Bruce Handy tells us all about the most ill-advised sitcom in television history, which was canceled after a single episode—Heil Honey,...

This week, Howard Blum shares new details about Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, and how the F.B.I. may have compromised the case against him. Then George Kalogerakis makes sense of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s now suspended campaign. And finally, India Hicks tells us all about the extraordinary life of her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks.

Does she or doesn’t she? This week, Linda Wells, the Editor of Air Mail Look, has the scoop on Gwyneth Paltrow’s “holistic” plastic surgeon. Then Henry R. Schlesinger shares the wild story of how the U.S. Navy used the lavish yachts of New York’s richest robber-baron families—replete with Tiffany interiors—to fight German submarines in the North Atlantic during World War I. And speaking of wild stories, Marta Represa has one that’s like something out of an Almodóvar film: how a group of...

This week, Carrie Monahan joins us from East Hampton with her fascinating story about a volunteer fireman, a reclusive old man who lived in a dilapidated mansion on one of the town’s most exclusive streets, and what happened to the man’s property after he died. Then, Samantha Leach will tell us how the television show Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is leading more than a few members of the Mormon church to choose pomp over piety. And finally, David Christopher Kaufman joins us with his...

Kamala Harris announced her choice of running mate this week, but right now we need to talk about J. D. Vance. And who better to lead that chat than Andy Borowitz, who will explain why Mr. Hillbilly Elegy is so bad. Then Bruce Bozzi tells us about his recent sit-down with one of Hollywood’s most elegant and handsome men, George Hamilton. And finally, Johanna Berkman reveals what she learned in her special investigation into Hamas in America.

This week, it’s all about scandals. First, John von Sothen reports from the French Riviera on what feels like a real-life Saltburn. Then Pippa Cuckson joins us from the U.K. with her insights into the news that’s rocked the Olympics—how one of the brightest stars of equestrianism was caught whipping a horse. And finally, Daphne Merkin looks at Nobel Prize–winning writer Alice Munro and her daughter’s shocking claims that Munro’s husband sexually abused her as a child.

As summer hits high season and the global smart set decamps to Martha’s Vineyard, the Amalfi Coast, or Jeff Bezos’s yacht, Harrison Vail reveals what your media-branded canvas tote bag (The Paris Review? A24? How Long Gone?) says about you. Then we have a terrific story courtesy of Alan Cowell, who tells us about a rather curious distinction he holds: in particular, he is the last correspondent to file a war-zone dispatch via carrier pigeon. And finally, Jensen Davis will join us to explain...

This week, Joseph Giovannini explains how Paris turned the requirement to build an Olympic Village into an opportunity to create a new, socially equitable and eco-friendly neighborhood that will be a shining legacy of the Games. Then, on the other side of housing, we have a report on what we call the “migration patterns of the very rich.” Elena Clavarino joins from Milan with her story on why the global 1 percent is relocating—and the cities they are flocking to. And finally, James Kirchick...

This week, Todd S. Purdum, a longtime political reporter for The New York Times, explains why Democrats have only themselves to blame for the Mexican standoff they’re now locked in with a very stubborn octogenarian. Then, we all know how Ozempic and Wegovy have reduced millions of waistlines around the world in the last few years. But in Denmark, where the drugs are exclusively manufactured, Ozempic and Wegovy have made many people very, very wealthy. In fact, the drugs have added almost 2...

This week, Graydon Carter joins us to talk about what’s next for Joe Biden. Then, if you find yourself longing to be like the super-wealthy, floating on a massive yacht in the Mediterranean, our colleague Jonathan Margolis has some bad news: the market for a new yacht is booming. Which means long waiting lists. He’ll tell us why. Then, if you don’t have the money for a yacht, maybe you have the money to buy some Beatles memorabilia? Mike Lafavore explains why, nearly 50 years after the boys...

It’s summer and for some that means golf. Lots of it. And Andrew Zucker tells us why, in the super-wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, the ritzy residents who usually play at their exclusive and expensive country clubs are now teeing up at a municipal course that’s open to commoners. Then, not everyone is happy that summer travel season is here. We’re talking specifically about Buzz Bissinger, who tells us why this is the time of year he dreads. And finally, Adam Hay-Nicholls has an incredible...

This week, Alessandra Stanley explains why prominent tech and finance tycoons are giving piles of money to Donald Trump—and why their behavior might be similar to that of certain German bankers and industrialists in the 1930s. Then Rachel Hodin joins us with her report on Rebecca Minkoff. For the past two decades she’s promoted herself as a designer and girlboss. Now she’s a Real Housewife. But as Rachel will tell us, behind Minkoff’s cultivated public image are rumors of a mismanaged...

It’s summer and it’s travel season, and if you live on the East Coast of the United States, your travel will likely intersect with I-95, the great interstate that runs from Miami to Maine. Everybody knows it. Everybody hates it. And Rich Cohen explains why. Then Dana Brown will join us from New York to tell us about something that, unlike I-95, will soothe your mind and your stomach—a terrific restaurant that aspires to be, wonderfully, nothing more than that. And finally, Rebecca John joins...

This week, Elena Clavarino takes us inside her story about a culture of alleged sexual harassment and alleged financial impropriety at the art world’s most prestigious design gallery. Then it’s election season … not just in the U.K. and the U.S. but also in the European Union, where the European Parliament is holding elections. For years, the parliament was the domain of faceless bureaucrats. No more, however. As our own George Pendle reports, it’s now become a finishing school for Fascists....