Category Archives: Reviews

FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE – FALL 2026 PREVIEW

FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘How to Survive in a World Without Rules’ – Essays from: Hal Brands, Charles A. Kupchan, Mariana Mazzucato, and Michael Beckley….

How to Survive in a World Without Rules

Self-help is becoming more vital in a vicious world.

The World’s Only Real Hope of Maintaining Order This article has an audio recording

A proposal for a new international system that is at once centralized and regionalized. 

How to Write Better Rules for Global Finance

The importance of a “common good” compass.

A New Engine of Development

The era of easy growth is over, but rich and poor countries can still join forces.

GAGOSIAN QUARTERLY —– FALL 2026 PREVIEW

Gagosian Quarterly: The latest issue features a detail of Brice Marden’s The Propitious Garden of Plane Image, Second Version (2000–06) on the cover.

Thinking About Brice Marden

On the occasion of the publication of Brice Marden: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, 1961–2023 this fall and of a corresponding exhibition of the artist’s work at Gagosian, New York, we invited Glenn Lowry, a friend of the artist’s and former director of the Museum of Modern Art, to reflect on moments spent with Marden and on the enduring power of his art.

AMA Venezia

Celebrating the collector Laurent Asscher’s new art space in Venice, William Middleton underscores the richness of Asscher’s relationships with artists.

The Generative Surface

Eileen Costello explores the oft-overlooked importance of paper choice to the mediums of drawing and printmaking, from the Renaissance through the present day.

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 PREVIEW

Cover of Country Life September 9, 2026

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features…

Choices, choices

With a seemingly endless array to select from, Country Life contributors reveal the tulips they will be planting for spring.

Spreads from Country Life September 9, 2026

Catch a falling leaf

Charles Quest-Ritson is hoping for warm days and cool nights to fuel a spectacular display of countryside autumn colour

Who let the dogs out?

Music and Man’s best friend go hand in hand. Harry Pearson collars canines calling the tune

Well, hello Salar!

David Profumo heads for the West Country in the wake of his fishing hero Ted Hughes

Luxury

Jonathan Self is dazzled by Coco Chanel jewellery and Tiffany Daneff is talking trugs

George Saumarez Smith’s favourite painting

The architect chooses a bold graphic linocut of the feline form

Country-house treasure

John Goodall admires the revival of the Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire

Spreads from Country Life September 9, 2026

The legacy

Tiffany Daneff pays tribute to the family who cooked up the secret recipe for Pulhamite rock

Grandstand views

An inspirational outlook makes for a magnificent garden at Mount St John, North Yorkshire. Kendra Wilson surveys the scene

Hot pots

Amelia Thorpe picks standout planters to showcase top tulips

Forever flowers

Blooms of Hydrangea paniculata are a must for every garden, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Why build a new country house

George Saumarez Smith weighs up the allure of a new country house in place of an historic pile

Spreads from Country Life September 9, 2026

A point of prospect

John Goodall finds a striking new memorial tower worth the climb at Doddington Place, Kent

Picture this

Independent rural cinemas will always offer the best big-screen experience for Madeleine Silver

Interiors

A feast of design ideas awaits visitors to key events such as Focus/26, reveals Amelia Thorpe

Back to the future

Harry Pearson meets the art conservators giving historic paintings a new lease of life

Spreads from Country Life September 9, 2026

Shell we?

The secret to dressed-crab perfection is keeping it simple, as Tom Parker Bowles reveals

Lord of the flies

Fruit flies are more than a mere pest — Ian Morton reveals their critical role in medical research

New series: Countryside mysteries

Otherworldly cramp balls — or King Alfred’s cakes — fire the imagination of John Wright

Travel

Gabriella Le Breton unpacks the winter latest, from new Swiss ski lifts to the high life in Courchevel

Arts & antiques

Benvenuto Cellini’s golden Saliera is a 16th-century cellar worth its salt, as Carla Passino discovers

THE SPECTATOR WORLD MAGAZINE – SEPT. 14, 2026

THE SPECTATOR WORLD: The latest issue features ‘Welcome to Kushner Island’ – Inside Jared and Ivanka’s Balkan Boondoggle…

Inside Jared Kushner’s Albanian adventure

For much of its history, Albania remained as shadowy and remote as the fictional Syldavia of the Tintin comics. Letters to Albania were sometimes returned from Albany, New York, with the postal direction “Try Europe.” The country came into existence only after 1912, with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Its first ruler, King Zog, was hounded out by Mussolini when he invaded in 1939. Five years later, the Italians and…

Trump has serious beef with American farmers

In August, Donald Trump sided with consumers by increasing the tariff-free quota on imported beef for 90 days beginning September 1. The concession will last three months. It would be a minor story with any other president in the White House. But under Trump, even dull-sounding trade news can take on a sudden importance, especially when mixed up with foreign affairs. Trump’s justification for favoring Argentina, whose 2026 quota he increased by 80,000 metric tons, is partly geopolitical: he wants to give support to Javier Milei’s free-market regime, seeing it as a foil to left-leaning governments elsewhere in Latin America.

Is Pete Hegseth running for president? Or getting fired?

Pete Hegseth has a face for television and a machismo of sorts. It appears, even to parts of MAGA, that Donald Trump put him in charge of the armed forces because the President likes attractive people on TV. “Right out of central casting,” Trump once told Secretary Hegseth, patting him on the bicep. “Pete loves war!”

THE NATION MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026 PREVIEW

Cover of October 2026 Issue

THE NATION MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Fall Books’….

Populists Can’t Be Populist if They Suppress the Vote

The crusade against ballot access, like virtually every other facet of Trump’s agenda, does nothing to serve the interests of “the people,” but our press is too brain-dead to notice.

The Misremembered ’90s of “The Backrooms”

The Gen Z filmmaker presents the decade not as it was but as reproduced via nostalgic threads on Internet forums.

There’s Nothing Traditional About Tradwives

Propagandists for stay-at-home domesticity are monetizing a fantasy—and they’re not really staying at home.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 14, 2026

The cover of the September 14 2026 Fall Style  Design Issue of The New Yorker on which a stylish woman uses a subway car...

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features Lennart Gäbel’s “Showstopper” – Commuter couture.

The America That 9/11 Made

A quarter century after the attacks, the grief, wars, and political furies of their aftermath still shape American life. By Jill Lepore

Have Conservatives Taken Sexy Back?

The culture wars have come for lingerie as the right, once the advocates of promise rings and purity culture, embarks on a crusade to “Make America Hot Again.” By Jennifer Wilson

Saudi Arabia’s Pursuit of Michelin Stardom

The kingdom, seeking to rebrand as a culinary juggernaut, has bankrolled new restaurants and conscripted big-name chefs. Will it succeed? By Ruby Tandoh

Donald Trump’s Capital Makeover

A coterie of advisers, planners, and architects is enabling the President’s passion project—renovating D.C. in his own image. By Antonia Hitchens

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- SEPT. 6, 2026

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 9.6.26 Issue features Benjamin Wallace on the summer ticks took over; Ruth Franklin on teaching Huck Finn in 2026; Susan Dominus on Collien Fernandes and her quest to find out who was impersonating her online; and more.

The Summer the Ticks Took Over

A scientific and civilizational horror story.

In an Age of Perpetual Climate Disaster, Rebuilding Is the Wrong Goal

But every crisis is an opportunity. By David Wallace-Wells

Every Family Has Its Own Private Language. What Does That Tell Us About Ourselves?

“Familects” emerge out of in-jokes and mispronunciations, but they reveal something about how all language evolves. By Nitsuh Abebe

Baseball In the Ashes: The Riveting, Heartbreaking Drama of the Yankees’ Post-9/11 Run

George W. Bush, Billy Crystal, Tino Martinez and others describe how baseball and a thrilling postseason became a rallying cry for the country. By Garrett Graff

SCIENCE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

SCIENCE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘OFF THE TOP’ – Climate-driven local extinctions of high-elevation plants….

How scientists unraveled the causes of the devastating flood in Tibet and Nepal

Global cooperation revealed a huge landslide likely initiated the cascade of events

Supermale fish become new tactic for vanquishing invaders

Hatchery-raised trout with double Y chromosomes can eradicate invasive populations

Fearing seal die-off from bird flu, Australia moves to evacuate sub-Antarctic research station

Watching pups’ deaths could affect the mental health of staff, officials say

Brain stimulation takes aim at improving women’s health

Trials of noninvasive technologies enroll pregnant and postpartum women

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features ‘Fall Books’…

Wishing It So

As AI erodes our attention spans and expressiveness, philosophers like Simone Weil and Arthur Schopenhauer offer profound insights on what it means to be an individual.

Looking Class

Timely questions lurk at the heart of connoisseurship: What counts as originality, what value do we place on it, how do we protect it?

The Connoisseur: A Cultural History by Peter Burke

The Goldsmith’s Debt: Conceptions of Property in Early Modern Art by Shira Brisman

The Dartmouth Exception

Among its peers in the Ivy League, Dartmouth was perfectly positioned to resist Trump’s attack on higher education. It chose not to.

Is Morality Universal?

In The Diversity of Morals, Steven Lukes attempts to reconcile philosophical arguments that there is one morality despite cultural differences with empirical studies that suggest it’s all relative.

The Diversity of Morals by Steven Lukes

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026

Cover of Smithsonian magazine issue from September/October 2026

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Exploring Mexico City’s Private Worlds’ – Intimate treasures await in the sprawling capital’s newest museums, from artists’ homes to buried ruins.

The Marvelous Museums of Mexico City

The ancient capital has plenty of artwork and fossils, if that’s what you like. Or tour the writing rooms of a Nobel winner, the fortified home of an exiled Russian revolutionary and towers of skulls

Who Dwells in a Shell?

Before they become sandy souvenirs, the baubles in the bubbles of the shoreline serve as a veritable fortress for creatures like clams, mussels and conchs

A Flair for the Dramatic

Known for its elaborate courtship ritual, the white-headed duck is a conservation icon in Spain. Elsewhere, it’s fighting for a second act