The Family That Built an Empire of Pain
The Sackler dynasty’s ruthless marketing of painkillers has generated billions of dollars—and millions of addicts.
Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump
On the people who tried to vote and couldn’t.
When the Revolution Came for Amy Cuddy
As a young social psychologist, she played by the rules and won big: an influential study, a viral TED talk, a prestigious job at Harvard. Then, suddenly, the rules changed.
The Passion of David Bazan
During the 90s, David Bazan was Christian indie-rock’s first big crossover star. Then he stopped believing.
Kid Cannabis
The rise and fall of a chubby Idaho pizza delivery boy turned weed kingpin.
The Boomtown That Shouldn’t Exist
Cape Coral, Florida, was built on lies. One big storm could wipe it off the map. It’s also the fastest-growing city in the United States.
The Judge's Code
Judge William H. Alsup, who presided over Oracle v. Google, has been coding for more than three decades.
A Fire's First, Fatal Hours
Retracing the steps of the most devastating wildfire in California history.
One Drug Dealer, Two Corrupt Cops, and a Risky FBI Sting
Davon Mayer was a smalltime dealer in west Baltimore who made an illicit deal with local police. Then they turned on him.
The True Crime Story Behind a 1970 Cult Feminist Film Classic
Meet the inspiration for Barbara Loden’s Wanda.
Fiction: "The Story of Your Fall"
A story of parenting, flying, and skylands.
A Catfishing With a Happy Ending
Emma Perrier was deceived by an older man on the internet—and then she found love with the model whose photographs he had stolen.
The War to Sell You a Mattress Is an Internet Nightmare
Why did Casper sue a mattress blogger?
The Chickens and the Bulls
The rise and fall of the “most far-flung, most organized, and most brazen example of homosexual extortion in the nation’s history.”
Patricia Bosworth is a journalist and biographer. Her latest book is The Men in My Life.
“The [acting] rejections are hellish and ghastly. At least they were to me. And I got tired of being rejected so much and also tired of not being able to control my life. And as soon as I became a writer, I had this control, I felt more active, more energized. But it was a decision that took a long time coming.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, and Heaven's Gate for sponsoring this week's episode.
Fear of a Female Genius
On Joni Mitchell and canons.
Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded
The Nxivm initiation was supposed to open up a secret sisterhood. After giving up compromising photographs to the recruiter “master,” each woman was expecting a tattoo. Instead they received 2-inch brands that seemed to suggest the initials of the cults founder, Keith Raniere.
Seven Days on the Oprah Cruise
With your mom.
Park Chan-wook, the Man Who Put Korean Cinema on the Map
A profile of the “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” director.
Love in the Time of Robots
What happens when robots act just like humans?
The Loneliest Polar Bear
The life and times of Nora.
Amy Tan on Writing and the Secrets of Her Past
“Who we become has so much to do with the experiences we had, and how we survived.”
The Danger of President Pence
Imagining the alternative.
One Person’s History of Twitter, From Beginning to End
“What happens when the thing that might save you is also the thing that might destroy the world?”
Interview: Emmanuel Macron
“We need to develop political heroism.”
