In 2016, DJ DiDonna was, by all accounts, riding high. The fintech company he co-founded, EFL Global, was growing at a fast clip. He had given a speech at the United Nations about how to empower entrepreneurs through access to finance, and the startup had landed a feature in The New York Times. Then came … Read more
All among the living and undead know Count Dracula. But vampires have a long and more established pedigree than readers of Bram Stoker may recognize. These bloodsuckers have even made their ways to American shores. In his new book, “Exhumed: Unearthing the History of the American Vampire” (Running Press), Aaron Mahnke starts with the “vampire … Read more
A 1992 guide to building sheds and barns has become an unlikely hit. Thanks to a handful of BookTokers — influencers who review and recommend titles on the platform — Monte Burch’s “How to Build Small Barns & Outbuildings” is having a moment. Sales of the book, published by Hachette Book Group’s Storey Publishing imprint, … Read more
“My fiancé died a month before our wedding, and now I’m going on our honeymoon alone to see if life is worth living.” That’s how Laura Murphy introduced herself in a TikTok post that went viral. The video — posted Aug. 25, 2024 — swiftly surpassed 1 million views and now boasts more than 4 … Read more
Paul Skalnik had a strange gift for being in jail when accused murderers suddenly felt the urge to spill their secrets. Skalnik was a petty con artist with a grimly reliable routine, writes Pamela Colloff in her riveting new book, “Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast.” … Read more
On July 9, 2015, a dead raccoon appeared on a Toronto sidewalk and, for reasons no one fully understood, four men from a nearby office decided to hold a funeral. They bought a cellophane-wrapped rose, signed a card, and placed it on the corpse, whom they named Conrad. In “Our Wild Familiars” (Crown, out Tuesday), … Read more
Two adorable little girls dressed in frilly white — the elder wearing a blue sash, the younger sporting a pink one — are captured by the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in a moment of innocence nearly 150 years ago. In the 1881 Impressionist masterpiece “Pink and Blue,” familiar from innumerable postcards, jigsaw puzzles, and art prints, … Read more
Your neighbors might be paying less for the same groceries you buy every week. In the age of “surveillance pricing,” the cost of an item is being determined by your personal information. Companies are using your personal data to figure out how much they believe you are willing to pay. Now everyone from lawmakers to … Read more
Jacqueline Harpman has been dead for 14 years, but she’s living every author’s dream. She has a new short story collection — “We Were Forbidden” (out now) — a novel that’s become a bestselling phenom thanks to social media and three more books in the pipeline. Harpman, a Belgian-Jewish writer and trained psychoanalyst, died of … Read more
Sophia Smith Galer first understood language loss as a sound coming from upstairs. Her 93-year-old nonna was in bed in north London, speaking al dialët, the family’s regional language from northern Italy, with Galer’s mother. Galer could understand much of it, but she couldn’t answer in it. “I remember going home afterwards and feeling real … Read more
The ferry broke down at exactly the wrong moment for everyone except Henry Ford. On June 8, 1909, two stripped-down Ford Model Ts rolled onto a little wooden ferry at Glasgow, Mo., and crossed the Missouri River. The cars were filthy, the men inside them were running on fumes, and a Boston-built Shawmut was closing … Read more
Living in Vermont, science and nature writer Rowan Jacobsen noticed the effects the seasons had on him. Summers were gorgeous, but the grey winters were brutal and left him lagging. “I felt as if my cells didn’t work,” he writes in his new book, “In Defense of Sunlight, The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure” (Scribner). … Read more
Frank Lloyd Wright was never a modest man. Praised frequently as the greatest architect in American history, he would parry “Why limit it to America?” During his long life — he died in 1959 at the age of 91 — he married three times, sired seven children, infuriated clients, ran up debts he couldn’t pay. … Read more
Chess champ Magnus Carlsen, 32, lost to 19-year-old Hans Niemann at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, sparking Carlsen’s cheating claims. Niemann, who admitted to prior online cheating, faced a wild “anal beads” theory for his win that went viral. Niemann’s $100 million defamation lawsuit against Carlsen and Chess.com was dismissed, leading to a confidential settlement. In … Read more
Cameron West, who lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), revealed childhood sexual abuse by his grandmother. Rikki, West’s wife, helped manage his breakdown and supported their family through his 24 alters. West’s 1999 book, “First Person Plural,” a bestseller, is reissued with a new epilogue. Cameron West’s eyes go somewhere else for a moment. He’s … Read more
He saved her life — now her mission is to save his legacy. Nikki Goldstein doesn’t remember the first time she met Rabbi Eli Schlanger in September 2022. She was comatose in a Sydney, Australia, ICU, battling pneumonia and failing lungs. Doctors didn’t think the 57-year-old would live to see the next day. Moments after … Read more
A former Navy SEAL and elite sniper instructor, Brandon Webb has jumped out of planes, raced cars, seen combat in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and trained people to shoot to kill. A bestselling author, he’s written about his exploits in books such as “Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL’s Guide” and “The Killing School: Inside … Read more
Journalist Isaac Fitzgerald’s new book, “American Rambler,” details his quest to walk Johnny Appleseed’s trail. The book reveals Johnny Appleseed’s trees were for hard cider, not the wholesome eating apples we know today. Fitzgerald’s journey concludes with reflections on his mother’s death in February 2024. The Johnny Appleseed Trail of North Central Massachusetts — named … Read more
Jon Krakauer, 30 years after surviving Everest’s deadliest day, still worries about the climbing season. Everest’s season is off to a “terrible start” due to a Khumbu Icefall closure, delaying acclimatization. Krakauer’s bestselling memoir, “Into Thin Air,” about the 1996 tragedy, has a new edition. It’s been 30 years since Jon Krakauer survived one of … Read more
Bestselling author Kathryn Stockett’s new novel, “The Calamity Club,” was inspired by a photo of an oyster shucker girl. The novel centers on 11-year-old Meg, an orphan at a Mississippi orphanage where the older girls are shipped off to work in Biloxi canneries. Stockett’s book delves into Mississippi’s bleak history, including sterilization laws targeting women. … Read more