Secret Spectacles
The story of a young man from rural Ghana who bought a pair of secret camera glasses and got himself smuggled across the Sahara, to film crime and exploitation along the way.
The Bitter Life of a Shattered Jockey: A Mostly True Story
Mary Bacon took a bullet while pilfering fruit as a child. Mary Bacon dropped out of school in the sixth grade and was pregnant by age 16. Mary Bacon had a romantic relationship with Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. Mary Bacon was kidnapped by a stalker. That same stalker later tried to shoot her with a gun. Not all of those sentences are complete horseshit.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Give Me a Love Song"
Scenes and thoughts from an affair.
An Even More Inconvenient Truth
Why carbon credits for forest preservation may be worse than nothing.
Rapper on the Run
When Spanish authorities sentenced this provocative musician to prison for “glorifying terrorism,” his dedicated fans helped him make a daring escape across the border.
How Sackler Became the Most Toxic Name in Philanthropy
A profile of Joss Sackler.
Billionaires, Bombers, and Bellydancers
On a century of Muslim misrepresentation in Hollywood.
Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine and a co-host of Political Gabfest. Her latest book is Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration.
“I'm pretty convinced that if everybody went to criminal court we would not have courts that are dysfunctional the way our courts are. Because what you see every day is a lot of dysfunction and disrespect. It’s kind of deadening. Most people—especially most middle and upper-class people in this country—don’t know anything about the system. They haven’t experienced it first-hand and they prefer not to think about it. It’s very stigmatized. A lot of what I do is just bear witness.’”
Thanks to MailChimp, The Great Courses Plus, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
Lost in the Jihad
The case against “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh.
The Artist Who Gave Up Her Daughter
Camille Billops abandoned her four-year-old to become the artist she knew she was meant to be. Twenty years later, her daughter wanted to know: why did you leave me?
Scott Disick Is Finally Comfortable
The business of being him is becoming a whole lot more fun.
The Charcuterie Board That Revolutionized Basketball
How Steve Kerr transformed the Golden State Warriors offense.
Walking Time Bomb
The director Stacy Title is paralyzed and cannot speak. But she is determined to make one final movie.
Was It an Invisible Attack on U.S. Diplomats, or Something Stranger?
An “unknown energy source” has been blamed for debilitating symptoms suffered by Americans posted in Cuba. The real cause may be more surprising.
Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston
Christianity formed my deepest instincts, and I have been walking away from it for half my life.
Inside Google's Civil War
On labor organizing at a Silicon Valley giant and what happens when a company loses touch with its motto of “don’t be evil.”
Outside Voices
On life in New York with an impossible neighbor named Jared.
A Dangerous Delay
The University of Maryland waited 18 days to inform students of a virus on campus. That decision left vulnerable students like Olivia Paregol in the dark.
Unlimited Power
A yearlong investigation by BuzzFeed News, based on leaked recordings, internal documents, and dozens of interviews with fans and insiders, reveals how Robbins has berated abuse victims and subjected his followers to unorthodox and potentially dangerous techniques. And former female fans and staffers have accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.
James Ellroy Finally Has Happiness in His Sights
What happens when America’s darkest crime writer sees the light?
Lawless
At least one in three Alaska villages has no local law enforcement. Sexual abuse runs rampant, public safety resources are scarce, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to cut the budget.
The Night The Lights Went Out
I find myself in a strange situation where people I love were traumatized and devastated by what happened to me, but I—the dude who actually suffered the injury—fell into a two-week time warp before waking up strapped to a gurney: emaciated, woozy, confused, and irritable.
Who Killed the Prime Minister?
Three decades ago, Olof Palme was assassinated on Stockholm’s busiest street. The case remains unsolved.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "The One Who Finally Saves You"
Unexpected reactions to a horrifying situation.
Primal Fear: Can Monkeys Help Unlock the Secrets of Trauma?
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico’s “monkey island.” The surviving primates could help scientists learn about the psychological response to traumatizing events.
