The Woman Who Turns Actors into Stars
A profile of casting director Nina Gold.
“I’m No Longer Afraid”
The stories of 35 women who were assaulted by Bill Cosby.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "A Flawless Silence"
A Chinese-American woman's past and present collide.
The Doting Father Who Robbed Armored Cars
Houston was plagued by a series of brutal armored car robberies that bewildered FBI agents for nearly two years. To finally bring down the unassuming mastermind behind it all, the agents had to stage an elaborate trap—and catch him in the act.
In the Footsteps of a Killer
From 1976 to 1986, one of the most violent serial criminals in American history terrorized communities throughout California. He was little known, never caught, and might still be out there. The author, along with several others, couldn’t stop working on the case.
Charlie Warzel is a senior tech writer for BuzzFeed.
“Part of the big tech reckoning that we’re seeing since the election isn’t really about the election, it isn’t really about Trump or politics. It’s more about this idea that: Wow, these services have incredibly real consequences in our everyday lives. I think that realization is really profound and is going to shape how we try to figure out what it means to be online from here on out. To keep stories relevant, we have to keep that in mind and try to figure out how to speak to that audience and guide them through that reckoning.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Tripping.com for sponsoring this week's episode.
What Fullness Is
On getting weight reduction surgery.
The Reinvention of America
An optimistic argument for the United States.
My Bright-Lights Misadventure with a Magician of Manhattan
“As an added bonus, she paid for everything.”
Whose Story (and Country) Is This?
The myth of “real” America just won’t go away.
Over the Line
What happens when U.S. border patrol kills—in Mexico?
Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match
How social media is fanning violence across the globe.
Church of The Donald
How Christian TV became Trump’s most reliable media mouthpiece.
How Janelle Monáe Found Her Voice
A profile of the pop star.
The King of Oontz Oontz Oontz
A week with DJ Avicii.
‘My Dearest Fidel’: An ABC Journalist’s Secret Liaison With Fidel Castro
The untold story of how Lisa Howard’s intimate diplomacy with Cuba’s revolutionary leader changed the course of the Cold War.
Mt. Gox and the Surprising Redemption of Bitcoin’s Biggest Villain
Mark Karpelès ran the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world until a heist made it insolvent, ultimately landing him in solitary confinement in Japanese prison.
Improbable Cause
One mysterious death, then another, and another — all in the same house. The first two written off as a tragic coincidence, until the third shattered doubts.
Dry, the Beloved Country
A dispatch from Cape Town, where surprising things can happen when it feels like the world is about to end.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Dropping Dimes"
A basketball player cares for his addicted sister.
Palantir Knows Everything About You
“All human relations are a matter of record, ready to be revealed by a clever algorithm. Everyone is a spidergram now.”
Who Killed Tolstoy?
A trip to the International Tolstoy Conference to investigate an unsolved murder.
Style Is an Algorithm
On the future of personal taste.
Michelle Dean is a journalist and critic. Her new book is Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion.
“There isn’t one answer. I wish there was one answer. The answer is: You just have to wing it. And I’m learning that — I’m learning to be okay with the winging it. ... I guess the lesson to me of what went on with a lot of women in the book is: You have to be comfortable with the fact that some days are going to be good, and some days are going to not be good.”
Thanks to MailChimp for sponsoring this week's episode.
The Delay
After an 11-year-old Navajo girl was kidnapped, her family and friends sprang into action to find her. Why did it take so long for law enforcement to join them?
