Special Delivery from Heller Highwater & Co.: Traffic, Amis, Clubs

I Remember You

A very happy—and I hope restful—Memorial Day to everyone. In the reflective spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd gather three recent short New Yorker pieces that have to do with remembering moments recently passed.

The first is about the journalist Ben Smith's book on the rise and fall of BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, Breitbart, and other traffic-chasing Web sites that emerged over the past twenty years. I look at their influence—which in most cases has outlasted their success—on politics and the publishing trade. 

The second is a short remembrance of the novelist Martin Amis, who died about a week ago. I wrote it for a gathering of recollections which the magazine assembled from a few writers. Unlike many of the other contributors, I never met Amis in life, so I focussed on what he did on the page. 

Finally, I include a Talk of the Town about a new, youthful members' club, in New York, called Maxwell. The theme—or gimmick—there is: you have to do it all yourself. 

"Click-Witted," The New Yorker, May, 2023: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/traffic-ben-smith-book-review

"Martin Amis, Remembered by Writers," May, 2023: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/martin-amis-remembered-by-writers

"New Faces Dept.: Clubbubble," The New Yorker, April, 2023: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/17/new-yorks-diy-private-club

On into summer—
Nathan