John Updike, Jonathan Franzen, Denis Johnson, Roger Angell, Aharon Appelfeld, Rebecca Mead, Susan Sontag, Amitav Ghosh, and Donald Antrim respond to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Best New Yorker The Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town has been The New Yorker's signature opening section since 1925, featuring witty observations, cultural commentary, and New York City dispatches.
44 picks · 1928–2001
Top authors: Geoffrey T. Hellman (5), Lillian Ross (4), Eugene Kinkead (3)
Nicky Drew on the origins of “ramspecking” and “burrowing in.”
Alan Paul on B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and musicians who trash their guitars.
The former model Toukie Smith has a big voice, a big smile, and an unbridled enthusiasm for things quintessentially herself, Hilton Als writes—all of which she has poured into her restaurant venture.
Alex Prud’homme meets the New York City soup chef on whom “Seinfeld” ’s “Soup Nazi” is based.
Susan Orlean’s Talk story, from 1987, on the Alaskan dog musher Susan Butcher.
Talk story about an auction at Christie's, in London, of "Finest and Rarest Wines," the crowning feature of which was a hand-blown bottle engraved …
Talk story about the making of a record of the new Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical "Sunday in the Park with George." Writer spoke with Thomas Z. …
Thomas Whiteside on the series of televised interviews between the talk-show host David Frost and the former President—a “blockbuster of a trial,” he wrote, in 1977.
Hendrik Hertzberg writes about a Rolling Stones concert at Madison Square Garden in 1975.
The soccer king, lured from Brazil by a multimillion-dollar deal, plays his first game for the New York Cosmos, Anthony Hiss wrote, in 1975.
Talk story from the fellow-citizen about his trip to Los Angeles. He went out there to attend a memorial service for Mr. Georges Gurdjiev, the mystic and …
Talk story about Bob Dylan and his recent concert at Madison Square Garden. Friends of the writer discuss Dylan's image and music. Gives highlights of …
Talk story about a visit to the chocolate factory in Hershey, Pa. and interview with Bill Wagner, who for 45 years has been tasting chocolate in the …
Talk story about Evel Knievel, a 32 year-old native of Butte, Montanan, who recently jumped over 10 automobiles with his motorcycle for the Madison Square …
The young, in the week of Kent State, asked more—insisted on more—and in so doing restored breath to a country that had seemed in many ways close to extinction.
Talk story about the 2-day American Institute of Planner's Conference at the Waldorf-Astoria entitled "Building the Future Environment - An Atlantic …
Talk story about Sen. Eugene McCarthy's visit to New York on Feb. 16. (He hopes to get the Democratic nomination to run for President next fall). He …
A 1967 interview with the singer at her Institute for the Study of Non-Violence, in Carmel Valley, California.
Lillian Ross meets the Italian publisher and movie producer Angelo Rizzoli at his international bookstore on Fifth Avenue, in this Talk story from 1965.
A 1963 interview with the manager of the Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—who brought the group from Liverpool to stardom and started Beatlemania with their appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Calvin Trillin describes the scene at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in 1963, up until the march reached the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King, Jr., would give his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Talk. The long-winded lady writes that she finds the world noisy & intrusive in the summertime; she is always too conscious of the rooms she is living in &…
Geoffrey T. Hellman meets Barbra Streisand, an unknown twenty-year-old singer wowing audiences on Broadway, in 1962.
Geoffrey T. Hellman visits the British author and humorist P. G. Wodehouse and his wife at their Long Island home, shortly after both had become American citizens.
Lillian Ross talks with Lorraine Hansberry about how she became a playwright.
A group of foreign visitors were here to attend meetings of the Economic Development Institute, which is a division of the International Bank. A trip to …
John Bainbridge and Brendan Gill observe the great Southern author William Faulkner as he writes in Random House’s New York offices.
Talk story about Joshua Logan, co-author, co-producer and director of "South Pacific." Interviewed during evening preview. He hoped he'd remember to …
From 1949: Fred Keefe and Geoffrey T. Hellman chronicle the French writer and director Jean Cocteau’s visit to New York to attend the Manhattan première of his film “The Eagle with Two Heads.”
Talk: Interview with Norman Mailer, author of "The Naked and the Dead." Mailer is twenty-five. He entered Harvard at the age of sixteen. In his sophomore …
Talk interview with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of Council of Government of new state of Israel, & presumptive first president of that state. Weizmann …
From 1946: A. J. Liebling on Jean-Paul Sartre delivering a lecture about new tendencies in French theatre, his “precaution” to not learn spoken English, and his approval of New York “without qualification.”
Eugene Kinkead’s 1946 interview with Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., who piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Talk story about Dr. John R. Dunning releasing atomic energy by splitting uranium. It was on the night of Jan. 25, 1939. That morning, Dr. Enrico Fermi had…
Tennessee Williams, the playwright behind “The Glass Menagerie,” reflects on his career.
Talk story about Clarence Hathaway, editor of the Daily Worker, and the most harried of Communists these days. Not only does he have to explain, over and …
Talk story about Dr. Bettmann & his archive, a collection of some 15,000 photographs of old manuscripts, works of art, mechanical devices, historical …
Talk story about Frida Kahlo, Mrs. Diego Rivera, and her exhibition of paintings at the Julien Levy Gallery. Most of the pictures at her exhibition are of …
In this Talk story from 1937, A. J. Leibling interviews a twenty-two-year-old who had created history with his productions of “Macbeth” and “Doctor Faustus” even before “Julius Caesar.”
Janet Flanner, James Thurber, and Harold Ross recount an average day with the author Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, from morning routines to country drives.
Personality of Gurdjieff, the philosopher who is now lecturing at Carnegie Hall where some of his disciples read a few chapters from the Master's book …
Personality of French artist. Studied to be a lawyer and then began to paint. His first picture was a study of law books. His early pictures were all …
Long Talk story about the uproar in Hollywood now that the Talkies have come in. All the stars are studying voice. Bonanza for the voice teachers. Even …