The Magazine
December 2, 2019
Goings On
Tables for Two
Botanical Tipples and Dreamy Pastas at Il Fiorista
Almost every dish and cocktail at the new NoMad restaurant, boutique, and “education center” features some combination of leaves, herbs, seeds, berries, and blossoms. The concept is hit or miss.
By Hannah Goldfield
The Theatre
Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Tender, Funny Strokes
His new play, “Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven,” features Liza Colón-Zayas, Elizabeth Canavan, and Elizabeth Rodriguez under the direction of John Ortiz.
The Talk of the Town
Steve Coll on bombshells at the impeachment hearings; Mike Nichols remembered; Charles Ray’s city walks; married to the Mets; the Karl Lagerfeld economy.
Paris Postcard
The Lagerfeld Economy
He may have been a monster boss, but the late Chanel designer was a one-man stimulus package for a handful of Paris shops.
By Lauren Collins
Milestone Dept.
Now and Forever with a Giant Baseball for a Head
Mrs. Met hosts a wedding expo for die-hard fans and their betrotheds.
By Betsy Morais
Dearly Departed
An Actresses’ Table for Four, Honoring Mike Nichols
To mark the publication of “Life Isn’t Everything,” an oral history about Nichols, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Glenn Close, and Whoopi Goldberg re-created their final birthday lunch with the beloved director.
By Michael Schulman
Visiting Dignitary
Speed Walking with the Sculptor Charles Ray
On a visit to the Met, the artist visits a favorite Greek marble relief and muses on space, breath, and heart surgery.
By Naomi Fry
Comment
Gordon Sondland’s Impeachment Testimony for the Ages
The case for Trump’s impeachment is strengthening, but the political equation in Washington remains at a stalemate.
By Steve Coll
Reporting & Essays
Profiles
Beck Is Home
Twenty-six years into his career, the musician visits the Los Angeles of his youth and says goodbye to the past.
By Amanda Petrusich
Annals of Justice
Prepping for Parole
A group of volunteers is helping incarcerated people negotiate a system that is all but broken.
By Jennifer Gonnerman
Brave New World Dept.
Big Tech’s Big Defector
Roger McNamee made a fortune as one of Silicon Valley’s earliest champions. Now he’s one of its most fervent critics.
By Brian Barth
Shouts & Murmurs
Fiction
The Critics
Musical Events
The Pristine Empire of ECM Records
On its fiftieth anniversary, the revered jazz and classical label launches a major Beethoven cycle with the Danish String Quartet.
By Alex Ross
The Theatre
“The Inheritance” Is a Tribute to E. M. Forster and an Audacious Work of Its Own
Matthew Lopez found in “Howards End,” the tale of two sisters in turn-of-the-century London, a template for the story he wanted to tell about gay men in New York now.
By Alexandra Schwartz
The Art World
The Art of War in “Theater of Operations”
Can an exhibition about the Gulf wars provide new ways of seeing such dismal subject matter?
By Peter Schjeldahl
Books
Briefly Noted
“Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming,” “What Is Missing,” “Maoism,” and “A Month in Siena.”
Books
It’s Still Mrs. Thatcher’s Britain
Her gospel of success and self-reliance earned her many admirers and enemies. How should we remember her?
By James Wood
Books
Joan Didion’s Early Novels of American Womanhood
In Didion’s fiction, the standard narratives of women’s lives are mangled, altered, and rewritten all the time.
By Hilton Als
The Current Cinema
Pastiche and Politics in “Knives Out”
While gleefully playing with the classic tropes of the murder-mystery form, Rian Johnson’s film also reflects more contemporary social concerns.
By Anthony Lane
Poems
Cartoons
1/12
“There—now I’ve taught you everything I know about splitting rocks.”
Cartoon by Gahan Wilson, April 9, 2007
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Cartoon by Sofia Warren
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“I shouldn’t tell you this, but we offer the flu shot.”
Cartoon by Trevor Spaulding
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“What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
Cartoon by David Sipress
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Cartoon by Roz Chast
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“It’ll never be ready in time.”
Cartoon by Amy Hwang
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“I hate when he stays late on the throne just to avoid the tension at home.”
Cartoon by Drew Dernavich
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“Well, then, maybe don’t name your Wi-Fi TheRealBigFoot.”
Cartoon by Emily Flake
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“Someday I’ll buy a little place in the country and take my finger off the Zeitgeist.”
Cartoon by William Haefeli
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“Looks like we have mice.”
Cartoon by Liana Finck
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“It’s good, but not forty-five-minute-wait good.”
Cartoon by Brian Hawes and Seth Roberts
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“It’s not nuts she stores up as much as resentment.”
Cartoon by Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby
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Cartoon Caption Contest
The Mail
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