Can’t Afford a Shopping Spree at Cartier? This Book Is the Next Best Thing

THE CARTIERSThe Untold Story Behind the Jewelry EmpireBy Francesca Cartier Brickell By Sadie Stein “Family came first,” Francesca Cartier Brickell’s grandfather tells her of the family’s jewelry empire. Although the Cartier family retained the business for four generations, the author didn’t grow up steeped in its history. She wasn’t even particularly interested until she came…

Pete Hamill ‘Ain’t Done Yet’

After 9,000 or so bylines, Pete Hamill has probably earned the opportunity to write the lead of his own profile. “Oh, I thought about it,” Mr. Hamill said on a recent Friday morning, hunched over a walker in the kitchen of his brownstone apartment in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. “‘Pete Hamill is 84,’”…

What Makes a ‘Narrative Violation’?

There’s an easy way to sound smart and edgy in the tech world: First, identify a broad idea that people seem to agree on. Then, cherry-pick a single piece of data that refutes it. Call it a “narrative violation.” And tweet it bumptiously. Venture capitalists, the tech world’s philosopher-kings, have embraced narrative violations. Earlier this…

The Amazon Coat, One Year Later

A few weeks ago, during another unseasonably warm fall day, my husband, in a pensive tone, posed a question: “Will it be embarrassing for you, to put your coat on again this year?” This seemed like an odd query, but I understood immediately what he was saying because my winter coat has a capital “c”…

When Mom Slams a Brand on Instagram

As a mom with influence, Caitlin Houston felt the need to act. Ms. Houston, of Wallingford, Conn., read a post on Instagram this summer by Karen Feldman, the founder of the Striped Sheep, a mommy-and-me clothing company, claiming that one of her designs had been ripped off by Tuckernuck, a high-end women’s clothing retailer. So…

Welcome to Redditsgiving!

Last year, Adam Naor and his girlfriend placed an ad on Craigslist inviting strangers to Thanksgiving dinner in their apartment in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan. “There was no prior research, it wasn’t a trend we wanted to be part of,” said Mr. Naor, 32, who works for Indeed, an employment search engine. “We…