What to Book: Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, by George Packer is about Holbrooke, to be sure, but it’s really about the slow demise of the American influence, Vietnam, power, ambition, sex, and everything else. Packer is such a good writer that I am simultaneously in awe and jealously enraged. You don’t think this is the book you want to read right now. But trust me. Just give it 2-3 pages and you’ll be locked in.

+ What to Pod: Speaking of people to be jealous of, Patrick Radden Keefe wrote one of the best nonfiction books in recent years (Say Nothing), and his next project is a riveting, fun, and crazy podcast that’s getting raves. And it’s about a Scorpions’ song and the CIA. Spies. Secrets. Soviets. And tight leather pants. Winds of Change.

+ What to Stream: I never miss it when John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett tour together. This years, that tour is canceled, so the boys are doing a streamed version instead on Friday, at 6pst.