Unix mail command: Sort by newest first

For people still looking for an answer in the base mail application, the best solution I could find is running the h$ command inside mail to jump to the bottom of the list.

(Source)

To make this as an answer, I'd suggest to use pine.

The mail command really isn't made for interactive use. It's for bare bones, your system is completely hosed, and you're searching for some email from cron. For anything else, use something newer and designed for day to day use, such as pine or mutt.