Each year at about this time, there’s a good bit of cultural excavation to be had in the Vanity Fair newsroom. What could our readers not get enough of this year? And what might those stories say about our times?
There was a lot to parse in our 10 most read articles of the year ending December 31, 2023. There were examinations of the behind-the-scenes conditions at two long-running television institutions; an aging billionaire whose succession battle could have been its own prestige-TV series; a reexamination of a long-simmering A-list divorce; a world-conquering fashion model opening up about her own recently ended marriage; the shocking origins of downtown Manhattan’s playboy of the moment; and much more.
It’s a varied list to be sure. But spend some time with the tens of thousands of words in the stories below, and one commonality quickly emerges. They are frequently comprised of up-close reporting on the human dramas on which big cultural narratives turn. In our experience that’s a rather timeless element of a must read story. By all means click around below and judge for yourself. We’ll be back in 2024 with so much more.
OceanGate’s Titan submersible prior to its final dive on a mission to see the Titanic wreckage.OceanGate Expeditions/Handout via Xinhua News Agency.
To many in the tight-knit deep-sea exploration community, OceanGate’s submersible dives were reckless and often dangerous, writes best-selling author Susan Casey.
“It actually tells you what’s wrong and how to fix it,” Stephanie Tisone (right) would tell a friend of Anthony William’s work.Leon Bennett/Getty Images. Courtesy Tony Tisone.
When Stephanie Tisone met Anthony William, a cult-famous, self-billed clairvoyant, she felt an instant connection. Her belief in his abilities was unwavering. Her life would never be the same.