Category
Biography: Arts and Entertainment
Charlie Watts was one of the most decorated musicians in the world, having joined the Rolling Stones, a few months after their formation, early in 1963. A student of jazz drumming, he was headhunted by the band after bumping into them regularly in London’s rhythm and blues clubs. Once installed at...
Chita 2024
She was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero—until the entertainment world renamed her. But Dolores—the irreverent side of the sensual, dark, and ferocious Chita—was always present and influential in creating some of Broadway’s most iconic roles, including Anita in *West Side Story*, Rosie in...
Dying of Politeness 2024
From two-time Academy Award winner and screen icon Geena Davis, the surprising tale of her “journey to badassery”—from her epically polite childhood to roles that loaned her the strength to become a powerhouse in Hollywood.
At three years old, Geena Davis announced she was going to be in movies....
From Ear to Ear 2025
While other kids were enjoying the head-bashing pleasures of tackle football, a freshly bar mitzvahed Steven Blier was inhaling operas and getting his first taste of accompanying professional singers. Beginning with impromptu piano gigs in the 1960s, Blier ascended to a dazzling career as an...
Girl in a Band 2025
For many, Kim Gordon is the epitome of cool: vocalist, bassist/guitarist and founding member of Sonic Youth—one of the most successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene—despite being famously reserved. Ten years ago, Gordon distilled that coolness into her groundbreaking memoir, Girl...
Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul. Yet that adaptability has made him...
How Women Made Music 2024
Drawn from NPR Music’s acclaimed, groundbreaking series *Turning the Tables*, the definitive book on the vital role of women in music—from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton—featuring archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations.
*Turning the...
The Jazzmen 2024
This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America. Duke Ellington, the grandson of slaves who was christened Edward Kennedy Ellington, was a man whose story is as layered and nuanced as his...
Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans and podcast listeners with stories about the odd, wild, and absurd details of his life. Yet these behind-the-scenes tales have pointed to deeper, more difficult truths that the actor and comedian has kept to himself. Now, he is finally ready to share those...
The Moment of Cubism 2026
The Moment of Cubism is one of John Berger’s most important collections of art criticism. Whether considering Vermeer in his studio, Poussin’s poignant meditation on death, or the complexities of Rodin’s sculpture, Berger draws together the threads that bind individual artists to their social and...
Motherless Child 2016
From the Yardbirds to Cream, Blind Faith to Derek and the Dominos, and a hugely-successful solo career, Eric Clapton's fifty years in the music business can look like an uninterrupted rise to become one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived. But his story is as complicated as it is...
Muse 2024
A poignant and glorious photographic memoir that pays homage to the lifelong friendship between the legendary Cicely Tyson and acclaimed fashion designer B Michael, who worked with her to make her gorgeous through her last bow. What greater act of friendship is there than making someone dear look...
The Path to Paradise 2024
A true icon of the New Hollywood era, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty.
Through Zoetrope’s experimental,...
Peacock & Vine 2016
Born a generation apart in the mid-1800s, Fortuny and Morris were seeming opposites: Fortuny a Spanish aristocrat thrilled by the sun-baked cultures of Crete and Knossos; Morris a member of the British bourgeoisie, enthralled by Nordic myths. Through their revolutionary inventions and textiles, both...
Phyllis Dalton 2026
The extraordinary story of costume designer Phyllis Dalton, filled with insights, recollections, and revelations from a life spent on the great film locations of the twentieth century.
In conversation with film historian Alexander Ballinger, Phyllis Dalton (1925–2025) reveals how she created some...
Radiant 2024
In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as...
A Thousand Threads 2024
Born in Sweden in 1964, Neneh Cherry’s father Ahmadu was a musician from Sierra Leone. Her mother, Moki, was a twenty-one-year-old Swedish textile artist. Her parents split up just after Neneh was born, and not long afterwards Moki met and fell in love with acclaimed jazz musician Don Cherry....
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The Moment of Cubism April 14, 2026
The Moment of Cubism is one of John Berger’s most important collections of art criticism. Whether considering Vermeer in his studio, Poussin’s poignant meditation on death, or the complexities of Rodin’s sculpture, Berger draws together the threads that bind individual artists to their social and...
Phyllis Dalton January 6, 2026
The extraordinary story of costume designer Phyllis Dalton, filled with insights, recollections, and revelations from a life spent on the great film locations of the twentieth century.
In conversation with film historian Alexander Ballinger, Phyllis Dalton (1925–2025) reveals how she created some...
From Ear to Ear November 18, 2025
While other kids were enjoying the head-bashing pleasures of tackle football, a freshly bar mitzvahed Steven Blier was inhaling operas and getting his first taste of accompanying professional singers. Beginning with impromptu piano gigs in the 1960s, Blier ascended to a dazzling career as an...
Girl in a Band September 9, 2025
For many, Kim Gordon is the epitome of cool: vocalist, bassist/guitarist and founding member of Sonic Youth—one of the most successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene—despite being famously reserved. Ten years ago, Gordon distilled that coolness into her groundbreaking memoir, Girl...
The Path to Paradise November 26, 2024
A true icon of the New Hollywood era, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty.
Through Zoetrope’s experimental,...
Charlie's Good Tonight October 8, 2024
Charlie Watts was one of the most decorated musicians in the world, having joined the Rolling Stones, a few months after their formation, early in 1963. A student of jazz drumming, he was headhunted by the band after bumping into them regularly in London’s rhythm and blues clubs. Once installed at...
Chita October 8, 2024
She was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero—until the entertainment world renamed her. But Dolores—the irreverent side of the sensual, dark, and ferocious Chita—was always present and influential in creating some of Broadway’s most iconic roles, including Anita in *West Side Story*, Rosie in...
A Thousand Threads October 8, 2024
Born in Sweden in 1964, Neneh Cherry’s father Ahmadu was a musician from Sierra Leone. Her mother, Moki, was a twenty-one-year-old Swedish textile artist. Her parents split up just after Neneh was born, and not long afterwards Moki met and fell in love with acclaimed jazz musician Don Cherry....
How Women Made Music October 1, 2024
Drawn from NPR Music’s acclaimed, groundbreaking series *Turning the Tables*, the definitive book on the vital role of women in music—from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton—featuring archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations.
*Turning the...
Dying of Politeness May 21, 2024
From two-time Academy Award winner and screen icon Geena Davis, the surprising tale of her “journey to badassery”—from her epically polite childhood to roles that loaned her the strength to become a powerhouse in Hollywood.
At three years old, Geena Davis announced she was going to be in movies....
Joyful Recollections of Trauma May 21, 2024
Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans and podcast listeners with stories about the odd, wild, and absurd details of his life. Yet these behind-the-scenes tales have pointed to deeper, more difficult truths that the actor and comedian has kept to himself. Now, he is finally ready to share those...
The Jazzmen May 7, 2024
This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America. Duke Ellington, the grandson of slaves who was christened Edward Kennedy Ellington, was a man whose story is as layered and nuanced as his...
The House of Hidden Meanings March 5, 2024
Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul. Yet that adaptability has made him...
Radiant March 5, 2024
In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as...
Muse January 23, 2024
A poignant and glorious photographic memoir that pays homage to the lifelong friendship between the legendary Cicely Tyson and acclaimed fashion designer B Michael, who worked with her to make her gorgeous through her last bow. What greater act of friendship is there than making someone dear look...
Peacock & Vine August 2, 2016
Born a generation apart in the mid-1800s, Fortuny and Morris were seeming opposites: Fortuny a Spanish aristocrat thrilled by the sun-baked cultures of Crete and Knossos; Morris a member of the British bourgeoisie, enthralled by Nordic myths. Through their revolutionary inventions and textiles, both...
Motherless Child June 28, 2016
From the Yardbirds to Cream, Blind Faith to Derek and the Dominos, and a hugely-successful solo career, Eric Clapton's fifty years in the music business can look like an uninterrupted rise to become one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived. But his story is as complicated as it is...