Vanity Fair Jun-15

1 Sebastian Junger In “The Bonds of Battle” (page 106), Contributing Editor Sebastian Junger draws on his experiences embedded with the Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne for Vanity Fair to examine why American soldiers get PTSD at rates far higher than those of any other military in the world. “In war after war, casualties have plummeted while PTSD and disability rates have skyrocketed,” says Junger. “The reason has nothing to do with war. It has to do with us.” 2 Robert Lacey Biographer Robert Lacey considers Ford Models founder Eileen Ford—the subject of his book Model Woman, adapted in “The Call of Beauty” (page 128)—not unlike Margaret Thatcher. Both were “criticized by feminists, but Eileen did so much through her own example to empower women,” says Lacey. To that…

In May 1977, George Lucas and Twentieth Century Fox released the first Star Wars movie. And from that moment on, you could say, the Force was with us. The Bond folks might disagree, but many would argue that no recent cultural phenomenon has achieved an international, multi-generational fan base of greater magnitude than Star Wars has. Star Wars had all the balls-out, heartstopping fun of a B-movie adventure romp, and the giddyup-and-go of a great Western. At the time it was the highest-grossing film in history. Over the next four dec ades, the Star Wars saga spawned two billiondollar-earning trilogies as well as myriad toys, video games, books and comics, and more than one TV series. Lucas, who also has four Indiana Jones films under his belt, is a near-singular…

In “Wall Street’s Flash Mob” (April), Michael Lewis reported about a charge the S.E.C. brought against the Swiss bank UBS in January 2015. A UBS spokesperson disputes his characterization of that charge. Her letter follows. The order to which Mr. Lewis refers is called a Primary Peg Plus or PPP order, which was only in use at UBS from June 2010 to March 2011. UBS settled with the S.E.C. in January regarding our PPP orders and our alternative trading system (A.T.S.), commonly known as our “dark pool.” The S.E.C. order does not allege that UBS benefited high-frequency trader clients over UBS private clients. The S.E.C. order does not allege that any retail orders were harmed because of the PPP order type. In fact, the order explains that when a PPP…

On the one hand, “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Shakespeare, circa 1600). On the other, “the simplest explanation is best” (the American public, 2015). Or so we claim to believe, even when strange things happen. And yet. Around a quarter of Americans subscribe to some sort of conspiracy theory surrounding the death of Princess Diana, the death of Jesus, and the attacks on 9/11. (Sadly, no data is available on how many of us suspect curious links among the three.) Even more of us—7 in 10, in fact—are skeptical of the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was alone responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (The C.I.A. and the Mafia are prime alternative suspects, though Lyndon Johnson tallied…

COURTNEY EATON AGE: 19. PROVENANCE: Bunbury, Western Australia. GROWING UP DOWN UNDER: The stunning Aussie, who grew up in a remote port city, recalls, “When you are younger you’re like, ‘Ahh, I want to get out.’ But now it’s really nice to go back. The beaches are amazing.” TO THE MAX: Eaton credits two people for her acting debut, in this month’s Mad Max: Fury Road, a reboot of the post-apocalyptic franchise, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron: “I’m grateful to [director] George Miller for plucking me from Perth by casting me in Mad Max, and to my dad, who, when I didn’t know if I wanted to audition, kind of made me do it. He was like, ‘It’s Mad Max—you can’t say no.’” ON SET, IN THE MIDDLE OF…

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