Go-to ride: “Horse.” ##### The _Phantom Thread_ and _Father Mother Sister Brother_ actress answers 40 of life’s most pressing questions Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps can hold her own. Her breakout performance, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s _Phantom Thread,_ wasn’t just dazzling; it proved she could go toe-to-toe with her three-time Academy Award–winning co-star, Daniel Day-Lewis. Her later turn as the mythic Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) in _Corsage_ was just as commanding, earning her the European Film Award for Best Actress. She now swaps a chilling modiste and a self-destructive royal for the warm yet rebellious, pink-haired daughter in the triptych comedy _Father Mother Sister Brother,_ also starring Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver. To celebrate the film’s release, Krieps shares her key components to the good life. — READ ON

##### Dazzling volumes on the Beatles, Blondie, the French New Wave, panoramic tennis courts, and palazzos, plus photography collections by Weegee and Larry Fink—and a cookbook or two By Jeanne Malle **O** ur pick of this year’s best coffee-table books covers everything and anything from art and design to music, photography, and cooking. We travel back to the streets of 1970s New York—downtown, where Debbie Harry’s pop-punk band Blondie first performed their hit song “Heart of Glass” at the Palladium, and uptown, where teenagers in Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Black neighborhoods were shaping the urban music scene. We go across the pond, too, where Paul McCartney reflects on the Beatles’ breakup as well as the creative rebirth that followed with Wings. We journey to an Art Deco Palm Springs and to READ ON

Bennett Cerf played a key role in the U.S. publication of James Joyce’s magnum opus in 1934. ##### How Bennett Cerf, the co-founder of Random House and famed publisher of Eugene O’Neill and Truman Capote, brought James Joyce’s controversial novel to the U.S. By Gayle Feldman _“[Bennett] Cerf was a great exaggerator.”_ Arthur Gelb, a former managing editor at _The New York Times_ and biographer of Eugene O’Neill, thought he was helping a neophyte (me) with this revelation when I was a year or so into writing _Nothing Random,_ my biography centered on the life of Bennett Cerf, the co-founder of Random House and famed publisher of O’Neill, Truman Capote, Gertrude Stein, and so many other canonical authors. But it wasn’t quite the _ta-da!_ Gelb had imagined. I’d already discovered that Bennett was an unreliable narrator of his own life when I did his genealogy and READ ON

By Gracie Wiener When the **New York** weather forecast predicts a colder, snowier than usual winter, drastic measures must be taken. Thankfully, READ ON

By Barry Blitt This item was originally published on airmail.news. Read on Air Mail →

For his heroic actions during World War II, American flyboy John B. Mead was awarded two Silver Stars. ##### After crash-landing in occupied France during World War II, a bombardier from Jacksonville, Florida, refused rescue and joined up with the French Resistance instead By Bruce Henderson As an author of World War II nonfiction books, I am continually amazed by how many “untold” stories are still out there about a war that ended 80 years ago. This is especially true given that of the 16 million Americans who served in that war, less than 40,000 (or 0.125 percent) are still living; a number expected to halve by next year. In my new book, _Midnight Flyboys,_ I relay another of those underreported yet incredible stories—this one about a group of U.S. B-24 airmen ordered to “forget everything you saw and did” before going home at war’s READ ON

Stand by your man: F.B.I. director Kash Patel, Alexis Wilkins, and Donald Trump. ##### Alexis Wilkins—the country-singer girlfriend of F.B.I. director Kash Patel—may warble about pickup trucks and patriotism, but she grew up in an elite Swiss boarding school for billionaires, dictators … and Tucker Carlson By Joseph Bullmore Is Alexis Wilkins—the girlfriend of F.B.I. director Kash Patel—a Mossad agent or a proud American? A seductress with an agenda or a Southern sweetheart? A small-town country girl—or the sinister product of an elite European boarding school? At least two of those questions now rest at the center of a $5 million defamation lawsuit filed late last month by the 27-year-old country singer against a right-wing blowhard who accused her of being in cahoots with the Israeli intelligence service. It’s the third such lawsuit she has filed since August. Hitting back at the conspiracy theorists, the 45-year-old Patel soon READ ON

Mel Brooks and Sid Caesar in 1952. ##### A new book tells the story of Sid Caesar, the often-overlooked Jewish sketch comedian who inspired everyone from Woody Allen to Conan O’Brien By David Margolick Twenty-five years ago, standing in the Grand Ballroom of the Pierre hotel to watch Sid Caesar receive the Alan King Award in American Jewish Humor, I knew a lot more about Alan King than about Sid Caesar. So did anyone else under 50 there that night. King, after all, was all over television then, while Caesar, who’d been a fixture on TV during its formative years, was invisible. That night, singing Caesar’s praises as the master of ceremonies, King’s first challenge—at least with folks like me—was to be believed. After calling Caesar “probably the greatest comic talent we’ve ever READ ON

The estate has been in the Clerk family for 14 generations. ##### One of the finest Palladian manors in Scotland has been reborn as an exquisite resort. Welcome to Penicuik House By Fiona Kerr In 1899, the “old” Penicuik House went up in smoke. Today, 100 yards away, a photograph on a wall in the “new” Penicuik House depicts ladies taking tea on the lawn, surrounded by their belongings as flames lick the roof of what was once the finest Palladian manor in Scotland. “It burned for two weeks,” explains Ed Clerk, the 14th generation to steward Penicuik and its 7,500 acres south of Edinburgh at the foot of the Pentland Hills. “But in a twist of fate, it kept the estate in the family, as it was up for sale at the time because they’d essentially run out of money.” READ ON

Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1981, aged 21. ##### Long before Andy Warhol, known for championing Jean-Michel Basquiat, there was Stéphane Janssen—a Belgian art collector in Beverly Hills who recognized the young artist’s genius early on By Doug Woodham Ambitious young artists know they’re only as good as their first collectors. The right ones send a powerful signal, marking an artist as worth watching and worth buying. While writing my book _Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon,_ the first major biography of the artist in nearly 30 years, I set out to track down his earliest collectors, the ones who believed in him long before Andy Warhol entered the picture. I knew a few from my time as president of the Americas for Christie’s, but the one that intrigued me most was Stéphane Janssen. His name surfaced READ ON

The photo that will haunt the Beckham family forever. ##### In an endless feud with his parents, Posh and Becks, Brooklyn Beckham delivers his latest snub—as a no-show at his father’s knighthood bash By Marianka Swain On Tuesday, a visibly emotional Sir David Beckham described receiving his knighthood from the King as “a special honor” and “a big moment for our family”. Sir David’s wife, Victoria, and his parents, Sandra and Ted, watched on proudly as he was knighted during the ceremony at Windsor Castle. The newly ennobled footballer was then photographed at the castle with his smartly dressed wife and children, sons Romeo, 23, and Cruz, 20, and daughter Harper, 14. However, that beautiful photo is tinged with sadness thanks to the glaring absence of his son, Brooklyn, who seemingly remains locked in a bitter feud with his parents READ ON

The 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence. ##### This week, don’t miss Walter Isaacson’s deep dive into the sentence that birthed a nation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident … ” By Jim Kelly Who can resist a book with this title, especially if it is written by world-class biographer Walter Isaacson? For those who think the sentence is “May the Force be with you,” please move to the back of the class and read this short volume, which explores in fascinating detail just how the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence came to be composed. As it turns out, even Thomas Jefferson, who initially wrote, “We hold these truths to be sacred … ,” needed an editor, in this case Benjamin Franklin, who scratched out “sacred” and replaced it with READ ON

##### look By Gracie Wiener As an art-and-jewelry historian, I consider last week’s **Louvre heist** to be my Watergate, which has led me to revisit the 2015 book READ ON

The comedian has successfully hidden behind his _Curb_ persona for years. ##### A new book on the making of _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ offers rare insight into its creator, from his pre-_Seinfeld_ misery to his lifelong friendship with Richard Lewis By Stuart Heritage For all the plaudits that _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ received over its lifespan, for how funny and daring and groundbreaking it was, people seem to have missed the fact that it provided Larry David with the perfect opportunity to conceal his true self. The main character in the show (wealthy former _Seinfeld_ showrunner Larry David) was so superficially similar to its creator (wealthy former _Seinfeld_ showrunner Larry David) that people started to assume they were one and the same. And David seemed to welcome this, shying from most opportunities to reveal himself. On talkshows, he likes to retreat behind the same clutch of anecdotes. When former READ ON

##### During the Cold War, America was a haven for Russian dissidents. Now we’re delivering them to the Kremlin By Alessandra Stanley In the 1985 Cold War thriller _White Nights,_ Mikhail Baryshnikov plays a Soviet ballet dancer who defects to the West. Years later, when his plane makes an emergency landing in Siberia, the dancer races down the aisle in horror, screaming, “We are landing in Russia!” Many Russians who managed to escape Putin’s iron curtain are now facing the same terrifying fate, only this time the destination isn’t an accident. The Trump administration is callously handing over dissidents and Russian Army deserters to the very goons they sought to evade in the first place. The beleaguered deportees are greeted at the Moscow arrivals lounge by F.S.B. agents with arrest warrants and handcuffs. READ ON

Kate Moss and Lucian Freud, 2010. ##### The relationship between Kate Moss and Lucian Freud was filled with a charged intimacy—but a new film on the two lacks spark By Waldemar Januszczak Why do people make tremulous films about artists? It’s a question I was close to screaming when I exited James Lucas’s film of the brief encounter between the supermodel Kate Moss and the super-duper painter Lucian Freud in the coke-stoked naughty Noughties. _Moss & Freud_ is well short of being the worst example of this failed genre. The bar here is spectacularly low and this toe-curler has some way to go before it reaches the pits of _Frida,_ Salma Hayek’s stupendously silly telling of the story of Frida Kahlo, or _Pollock,_ Ed Harris’s pool of perspiration masquerading as a film about Jackson Pollock. This is too much of a short story to fall to such Hadean depths. READ ON

Crowds welcome Adolf Hitler at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport in 1934. By Tim Bouverie On the evening of January 30, 1933, hundreds of storm troopers paraded by torchlight through Berlin to mark the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. The “jubilation,” recalled a supporter named Günter Loshe, “was spontaneous.” At long last, “a man was trying to clean up the stables.” The old, establishment politicians had failed. People said: “He is going to push reforms through and quickly.” Germany, humiliated at the end of the First World War and in the grips of the Great Depression, would revive. “There was a wish,” continued Loshe, “to place power in the hands of a man who says: ‘We will do it. That’s how it’s done.’” READ ON

##### bake By Ashley Baker Do you dare describe yourself as a chocoholic if you don’t luxuriate in the confection daily? **_Chocolat,_** a new book from the food writer READ ON

##### dine By Merritt Johnson If **Hudson Yards** feels like a culinary desert, **Papa San** is an oasis. From owner **Juan Correa** and chef **Erik Ramirez** —both of **New York’s** READ ON

As you can see, sir, cement will absolutely look much better here. ##### Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s October Surprise By Michael Moritz Dear President Trump: Please find below my preliminary suggestion for your October schedule. As always, I have put private meetings/phone calls in italics. I left some gaps for doctor’s visits. Respectfully, Stephen N. Miller Deputy Chief of Staff * October 1: Public unveiling of report on malfunctioning U.N. escalator. * _October 2 : Monthly review of Kash Patel target list._ * October 4, 5: Golf—New Jersey: Bedminster and Colts Neck. * October 7: Vladimir Putin birthday. Dedicate in honor of President Zelensky. * October 8: Announce addition of M.M.A. bout to Kennedy Center Honors Gala. * October 9: National Vermin Day. Announce new nationwide pest/cockroach standards. READ ON

##### read By Maggie Turner Known for her glamorous pursuits and doomed affairs, **Princess Margaret** has gone down READ ON

William James Neal worked as a music director at Gibbs Junior College in St. Petersburg, Florida, before his credentials were stripped. ##### The little-known story of the gay Black Korean War veteran who sued the state of Florida in 1961 for firing him due to his sexuality—and won By Robert W. Fieseler In the Trump administration’s wild purges of histories relating to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from Department of Defense Web sites this spring, photographs of the _Enola Gay_ B-29 aircraft, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, were _somehow_ included on a list for possible deletion. In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a review of the U.S. Navy vessels bearing the names of prominent civil-rights leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Harriet Tubman, going as far as ordering the renaming of a ship named for Harvey Milk, a former lieutenant who was the first openly gay elected official in California prior to his assassination, in 1978. READ ON

Somber and stylish: funeral-goers Victoria Beckham, Donatella Versace, and Kate Moss. ##### Now even funerals are a scene for the social climbing and peacocking of the Instagram age By Katia Kulawick-Assante I f you want to prove to the world that you’re alive and well—thriving, even—then make an appearance at a high-profile funeral. If tabloid inches are any indication, these once-somber affairs are now competing for attention with fashion weeks and Hollywood premieres. They even resemble social events, where guests make their mark in sophisticated outfits. Last weekend in Milan, there was a public viewing for the fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died at age 91 on September 4. Approximately 16,000 people visited his fashion brand’s Tadao Ando–designed theater, on Via Bergognone, to line up behind his wood coffin, including a sunglassed Donatella Versace, who left a bouquet of white flowers. READ ON

Leopold Stokowski in Disney’s _Fantasia_ (1940), which he conducted the music for. By John Mauceri Two books about musicians who have been at the center of the classical-music debates of the last 75 years have just arrived. One is a short tell-all-about-me memoir centered around the mesmeric media-star conductor Leopold Stokowski by his former musical assistant (_I Knew a Man Who Knew Brahms,_ by Nancy Shear), and the other is a monumental biography of John Williams (_John Williams—A Composer’s Life,_ by Tim Greiving). Both men were (and still are) household names, and both managed to keep their inner selves complete mysteries while appearing in the company of movie stars, presidents, and foreign dignitaries. READ ON

##### SHOP By Spike Carter After traveling to **Japan** as a fine-arts student, **Jake Hobson** returned to England with his life changed by the country’s exquisite READ ON