D. T. Max
D. T. Max first contributed to the magazine in 1997 and has been a staff writer since 2010, covering food, culture, medicine, and crime. His years of interviews with Stephen Sondheim, originally intended as the basis for a New Yorker Profile, were excerpted, after the composer’s death, in the magazine’s first digital Interviews Issue, in 2022, and later became a book, “Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim.” Max is also the author of “The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery,” a cultural and scientific study of prion disease, and “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace,” a national best-seller.
He has been the books editor of the New York Observer, a writer for the Times Magazine, a pseudonymous food reviewer for Paper, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He contributed the afterword to the New York Review Books Classics reissue of William McPherson’s 1984 novel, “Testing the Current.”
Bouldering Beside the Harlem River Drive
After learning to climb by scaling his family’s Prospect Park South house, a nineteen-year-old likes to tackle the ledges of upper Manhattan, unless the cops get in the way.
Is the Sagrada Família a Masterpiece or Kitsch?
In the century since Antoni Gaudí died, his wild design has been obsessively realized, creating the world’s tallest church—and an endlessly debated icon.
Dolce & Gabbana’s Spartacus Moment
Fresh from trussing Lauren Sánchez for her Venetian wedding, the designing duo hit Rome for their annual Alta Moda couture extravaganza.
When I Met the New Dire Wolves
D. T. Max on the startup reversing extinction. Plus: how Trump crushed the stock market; and Seth Rogen’s notes on Hollywood.
The Dire Wolf Is Back
Colossal, a genetics startup, has birthed three pups that contain ancient DNA retrieved from the remains of the animal’s extinct ancestors. Is the woolly mammoth next?
The Priest Who Helps Women in the Mob Escape
Don Luigi Ciotti leads an anti-Mafia organization, and for decades he has run a secret operation that liberates women from the criminal underworld.
Can Turning Office Towers Into Apartments Save Downtowns?
Nathan Berman has helped rescue Manhattan’s financial district from a “doom loop” by carving attractive living spaces from hulking buildings that once housed fields of cubicles.
The Woman Who Spent Five Hundred Days in a Cave
Beatriz Flamini liked to be alone so much that she decided to live underground—and pursue a world record. The experience was gruelling and surreal.
The World Cup of Coffee!
The Italian coffee magnate Andrea Illy convenes a (temporarily) tired group of coffee appreciators to judge twenty-seven cups from nine countries.
“Merrily We Roll Along” Again
Besides singing and directing Sondheim, Maria Friedman likes rowing a boat on the Lake in Central Park, with or without rodents.
The Novelist Whose Inventions Went Too Far
After the Afro-Cuban writer H. G. Carrillo died, his husband learned that almost everything the writer had shared about his life was made up—including his Cuban identity.
Meat Pies (One Meatless) with “Sweeney Todd” ’s Newest Stars
Annaleigh Ashford (Mrs. Lovett) and Josh Groban (the demon barber of Fleet Street) compare notes on their early Sondheimian setbacks.
Killing Invasive Species Is Now a Competitive Sport
In the Panhandle, where swarms of lionfish gobble up native species, a tournament offers cash prizes to divers skilled at spearing one predator after another.
How Sara Bareilles Evolved Beyond Being a Pop Star
The singer turned actress turned musical-theatre virtuoso discusses her role as the Baker’s Wife in the Sondheim musical “Into the Woods.”
Stephen Sondheim’s Lasting Wisdom
As he worked on his final musical, the legendary composer discussed the ideas he’d abandoned, the minutiae of his technique, and the lesson that any artist must learn.
Hanya Yanagihara’s Audience of One
As a fashion editor, she celebrates idiosyncratic forms of beauty. As a novelist, she explores dark themes of abuse and shame. In both cases, she’s worried only about pleasing herself.
Half a Billion in Bitcoin, Lost in the Dump
For years, a Welshman who threw away the key to his cybercurrency stash has been fighting to excavate the local landfill.
How Colm Tóibín Burrowed Inside Thomas Mann’s Head
In writing his new novel, the Irish author spent years tracing the secret yearnings of Mann—who, he says, played a lifelong “game between what was revealed and what was concealed.”
A Mysterious Suicide Cluster
Young people in a Missouri college town kept killing themselves. A parent of one victim is convinced that her son’s friend encouraged the deaths. Has a sinister figure been exposed, or is it a case of misplaced blame?
The Public-Shaming Pandemic
Around the world, people who accidentally spread the coronavirus must face both a dangerous illness and an onslaught of online condemnation.