'Kinfolk' simplifies the increasingly complex art of the dinner party, instead pioneering fuss-free activities that bring people together. Over 30 well-known photographers have collaborated with stylists, filmmakers, chefs, bakers and their own close friends to document these meals for others to experiment with new ways of entertaining.

The fourth volume of Kinfolk provides beautiful, original inspiration for making the most of long, hot summer days. Presenting an unconventionally simple approach to the art of entertaining, Kinfolk targets a young trendy readership of food enthusiasts. Over 30 well-known photographers have collaborated with stylists, filmmakers, chefs, bakers and their own close friends to document these meals for others to experiment with new ways of entertaining. With stunning photography throughout, Kinfolk is a relaxing read for those wishing to escape the stresses of modern life.

The Saltwater Issue: Kinfolk's Summer 2014 edition will explore the world’s oldest and most used seasoning while also looking at it—and us—in its natural habitat: the sea. Instead of the stereotypical nostalgic summer issue full of things we’ve covered already (swimming, surfing, hammocks, etc.), this issue will focus not only on our salty theme but also on encouraging people to get outside and be spontaneous in the warm weather. Sunlit, euphoric photo essays will be accompanied by salty commentary and social history: Think of it as a summer issue with a seasoning of culture. We’d love for our readers to walk—or swim—away from this issue with a few of things on their minds: to take themselves less seriously, to not be afraid to try something new, to flow with the tides (or to push against them at the right moment) and, most importantly, to build a sandcastle and have some fun. This issue’s double-barreled concept will provide the readers both with a carefree outlook and a solid backbone of research, food culture and dinner-table conversation. Care to put your toes in? The saltwater’s warm.

Issue Thirty-One The spring issue of Kinfolk builds on our foundational interest in design to consider the discipline in its most ambitious manifestation: architecture. Mid-century architect and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand, whose archives we delve into in this issue, once wrote: “The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living.” We interrogate this close relationship between external surroundings and interior wellbeing and meet the architects chipping away at the partition wall between the two. Buildings affect the mood and behavior of their inhabitants. Equally, the things we build—or wish to build—reflect our own state of mind; blueprints of the ways in which we hope to reinvent the world. This issue of Kinfolk will pay homage to the architects with dreams too big for city planners to swallow—from an investigation into the history of utopian design to a photo essay about the most visionary projects that have been demolished, or simply never-built, over the last century. We also interview those who have bridged the divide and made their strangest whims a reality: like Asif Khan, whose belief in a future where architecture is “light, intelligent and simple” inspired him to build with bubbles. Elsewhere in the issue, we meet Sharon Van Etten, who talks about why she chose to study psychology while writing her new album, and we spend a day in the studio with Kyle Abraham—the choreographer making history at the New York City Ballet. As the weather turns warmer, our thoughts follow; this issue’s essays find our writers lingering on balconies, musing on the impossibility of “turning over a new leaf” and biting down on the juicy history of the peach.

The most popular alternate history series of all continues. When an inexplicable cosmic disturbance hurls your town from twentieth century West Virginia back to seventeenth century Europe¾and into the middle of the Thirty Years War¾you'd better be adaptable to survive. And the natives of that time period, faced with American technology and politics, need to be equally adaptable. Here's a generous helping of more stories of Grantville, the American town lost in time, and its impact on the people and societies of a tumultuous age. Cardinal Richelieu, France's insidious master plotter and power behind the throne, learns of his prominent role in Dumas' not-yet-written novel The Three Musketeers (not to mention the several movie versions), and starts a search for the "real" D'Artagnan.Grantville is selling crystal radio sets so that Europeans can tune in to the Voice of America broadcasts, but the technicians from the future are at wit's end, trying to reproduce "primitive" early twentieth century broadcasting equipment by trial and error¾until a trained library researcher shows up in town.Wilhelm Krieger, one of Germany's greatest philosophers, comes to Grantville to learn the philosophy of the future¾and meets a contrarian cracker-barrel philosopher.The Dalai Lama of the seventeenth century receives a strange gift: an image of the Buddha which glows by a strange mystical force called "electricity." And much more, including stories by the New York Times best-selling writers Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce, in the latest installment of this best-selling alternate history series. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).