The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson at his most transparent
Everything is a dolly shot of dolled-up people in a doll’s house
Books & Arts
The problem with Heathers: The Musical
The musical flirts with nonconformity and then, scared, retreats into its own shadow
How Esther inspired the imagination of Rembrandt
The enchanting and historically haunting show consists of more than 120 objects
Vermeer’s Love Letters is something of a riddle
The paintings become mysteries, enticing and deserving of attention precisely because there are so few
Why Jane Austen is still the queen of romance
The writer remains supreme in part because women don’t merely want dazzling men, we want to be dazzling ourselves.
A more rounded picture of James Baldwin
Nicholas Boggs has written the first major biography of the writer in more than 30 years
The thrill of ghostwriting
Julia Clark’s new novel succeeds both as a gripping mystery and a sly commentary on the art of storytelling itself
Frank S. Meyer was a political paradox
Noel Parmentel’s quote, ‘The right wing was fun back then,’ is one of the takeaways from Daniel J. Flynn’s new book