'Frank Sinatra Has a Cold' is one of the seminal works of New Journalism

Listen to Gay Talese read from ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold’

The writer revisits his 1966 profile on Frank Sinatra, one of the most popular magazine stories ever written. The story uncovered aspects of Sinatra’s life previously unknown to most people, such as having a personal staff of 75 people, including one person to take care of his hairpieces.

Gay Talese ran up expenses close to $5,000 to pursue ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold’

In this retrospective, Talese reflects on the making of the legendary article that pioneered a new literary style. He offers his critiques of the modern state of profiles, arguing the industry no longer produces compelling work.

Why Frank Sinatra called Billie Holiday his 'greatest single influence'

In a 1958 essay for Ebony magazine, Sinatra wrote about the impact that Black music had on him, writing that "it is Billie Holiday, whom I first heard in 52nd Street clubs in the early 1930s, who was and still remains the greatest single musical influence on me. It has been a warm and wonderful influence, and I am very proud to acknowledge it."

One journalist argued New Journalism writers prioritized ego over public service

Michael J. Arlen wrote a critique of the then-fashionable and popular form for The Atlantic in 1972, warning about the risk of emphasizing a writer’s perspective over facts. While Arlen applauded the innovation of the style, he believed focusing on voice and perspective could be irresponsible.

Minnelli's concert with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. was considered 'The Ultimate Event'

Called "The Ultimate Event," the three legendary singers joined for a rare concert tour in the late 1980s. The show was released as a TV special shortly before Davis died from cancer.

He made a name with a short story about jumping frogs

Twain’s first big break came with “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” a fictitious story that appeared in a 1865 edition of the New York Saturday Press. (When it was republished elsewhere, the title was changed to “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”) That year, American poet James Russell Lowe called it “the finest piece of humorous literature yet produced in America.”

'You only go around once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough.'

- Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)

The Vintage Contemporaries imprint defined the voice of 1980s and 1990s American fiction

The carefully curated line of fiction featured some of the brightest stars in late-20th-century American literature, including Jay McInerney, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, and featured eye-catching covers that looked like nothing else on bookshelves.

John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ focused on the stories of atomic bomb victims

The nonfiction book is considered one of the earliest pieces of New Journalism and an arresting case against nuclear warfare. Describing the pain, wounds and trauma of six ordinary citizens, “Hiroshima” played a powerful role in American perception of the war by focusing on its human toll.

Joan Didion interviewed The Grateful Dead in 1967, before they became music icons.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

The FBI's most famous cases

From the D.B. Cooper plane hijacking to the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. to the details about the first FBI agent killed in the line of duty, this FBI archive overviews the agency's most famous cases. Cases are organized by investigative priorities, according to the agency. Clicking any of the linked investigations takes readers to detailed articles about the cases, some of which remain unsolved.

Rudolph Fisher was an incisive writer—and a practicing physician

Fisher was one of the luminaries Langston Hughes cited in "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" and was known as an impressive polymath, writing stories, acting in plays, and practicing medicine. In this deep dive, science writer Harriet A. Washington explores why he's often neglected in modern narratives about the Harlem Renaissance.

The best podcasts about Old Hollywood

If you’re intrigued by the gossip and scandals of Hollywood’s early years, you’ll want to check out this Vanity Fair list of some of the best podcasts on the topic. Some, like Karina Longworth’s "You Must Remember This," cover a different event from Hollywood history with every episode. Others follow a single topic over the course of an entire season, like "No Place Like Home", which explores the 2005 theft of the original "Wizard of Oz" ruby slippers.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

The surgeon who tried to save John Lennon says he can’t forget that night

Frank Veteran was a resident in 1980 on the night John Lennon was shot in New York. For years afterward, he tried to process the sight of seeing the Beatle dying in the hospital, including through art, but he says that the memories from the experience are still vivid.

The nonfiction book that kick-started Orwell's career

1935's "The Road to Wigan Pier" was a piece of investigative journalism that explored how the impoverished were handling the Great Depression, known in England as "the Slump." Orwell divided the book into two parts: One that described the living conditions of the working poor, and the other that criticized middle-class socialists' ineffectiveness at helping them.

The oft-cited roots of the true crime genre

The 1966 book "In Cold Blood" by American author Truman Capote is often considered the beginning of true crime as it's known today. The story details the real-life murders of a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas, using techniques that, at the time, were relegated to fictional tales. Before it was a book, the narrative was published by The New Yorker in 1965 as a four-part series. 

See a collection of LIFE's most iconic photos in history

Famous images, like a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II, are each shared with context in this article. See some of history's most famous moments from a unique point of view, including photos of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and Muhammad Ali.

Roosevelt wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column 6 days a week for 27 years

Roosevelt's My Day column was launched in late 1935 and ran nearly every day until shortly before her death in 1962. It began as an account of her daily life but grew into one of the most widely read opinion columns in the country, with 4 million readers at its peak.

Read an early piece of journalism on country music

This 1904 Harper’s Weekly article from Emma Bell Miles offers an early example of country music criticism. Miles traces the music’s roots to the mountaineers who pioneered it. It’s a famous piece for music writers: Miles saw a phenomenon building in the hills long before any major record label.

How Kurt Cobain's suicide changed the media

Public health experts feared that the suicide of a high-profile figure, especially for young people, would lead to a rise in suicides across the country. The opposite turned out to be true: Suicide rates decreased. Specialists suggest that's due to the way Cobain's death was covered, with news organizations largely avoiding glorification and including crisis hotline information.

A research study found that Springsteen's popularity is due to his lyrics' authenticity

The Penn State study compiled lyrics from 18 albums and analyzed the words that "convey genuineness and honesty" and those that suggest cognitive activity. They found that Springsteen's songs are often focused on the present and "tend to express positive emotion," which they believe might explain why his fans are so devoted.

Nature simultaneously published three papers on DNA—only the first made history

Papers by Watson and Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin were fast-tracked without peer review, and their order was arranged between lab heads and editors. Franklin's appeared last, making her paper read as though supporting Watson and Crick—because they'd already incorporated her data before it was published.

Warren Zevon's sardonic takes landed him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Warren Zevon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. Political writer Andrew Walworth highlights Zevon's keen interest in international politics, which often found their way into his memorably wry lyrics.

Wind of Change investigates a Cold War rumor linking the CIA to a rock anthem

This hit podcast follows journalist Patrick Radden Keefe as he explores whether the Scorpions’ 1990 power ballad “Wind of Change”—an anthem of the Cold War’s end—was secretly written by the CIA as cultural propaganda.

James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' was marketed as memoir but revealed as fiction

The addiction book became a huge success after being added to Oprah Winfrey's book club. After it was revealed to be fiction in 2005, Oprah invited Frey on her show and criticized him for deceiving her and his readers.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace