Code of Silence
Two officers discovered rampant corruption and criminal activity at the heart of Chicago’s police department. Then they were punished by their peers. A four-part series.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Swimming Underwater"
A family disintegration, past and present.
Who Murdered Giulio Regeni?
When the battered body of a Cambridge Ph.D. student was found outside Cairo, Egyptian police claimed he had been hit by a car. Then they said he was the victim of a robbery. Then they blamed a conspiracy against Egypt. But in a digital age, it’s harder than ever to get away with murder.
Farewell, Champions of Havana
The last vestiges of a sporting powerhouse.
Luke Dittrich is a contributing editor at Esquire. His new book is Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets.
“As soon as I told [my mom] that I got my first book deal for this story about Patient H.M., her first words were, ‘Oh no.’ That was sort of her gut reaction to it because, I think, she knew at a certain level that I was going to be dredging up very painful stories. And I think at that point even she didn’t know the depth of the pain that some of the stories that I was going to find were going to lay out there.”
Thanks to MailChimp, EA SPORTS FIFA 17, Squarespace, Wunder, and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode.
The Brain That Couldn't Remember
When the most famous amnesiac in history died, the battle for custody of his brain began.
The Team of Men Behind Rachel Brewson, the Fake Woman Whose Trump-Fueled Breakup Went Viral
Inside a pageview scam.
The Mind-Bending Benedict Cumberbatch
A profile of “the internet’s boyfriend.”
Saint Will and the Man Who Shot Him
A former Saint and Super Bowl champion, Will Smith, was shot and killed by another player named Cardell Hayes. Their fatal collision highlights the fine line between triumph and tragedy in football and life in New Orleans.
Michael Atiyah’s Imaginative State of Mind
A conversation about beauty with an 86-year-old mathematician.
In the Heart of Trump Country
On Logan County, West Virginia.
Those Like Us
On Elena Ferrante:
Different names, every time, but the reaction is the same: a momentary light in the listener’s eyes that fades to bored disappointment. An Italian woman from Naples, whose name you wouldn’t know. Who did you expect?
The Gruesome November Night in One of Washington’s Wealthiest Suburbs
The story of a home invasion, a torture session, and one lawyer who nearly killed another.
The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain
On Robin Williams’s final months.
Building Your Sonic Brand
The business of sound.
The Golden Suicides
A couple, well-known New York artists, decamp to L.A., where she intends to direct a movie about a rock star trying to leave a cult. Beck, a friend, signs on, then (possibly under pressure) drops out. Their behavior grows strange, and they rant of constant harassment by Scientologists. They return to New York—to die.
My Bloody Valentine
What do you do after you’ve already been the world’s youngest dictator?
Dispatches from the Rap Wars
A sociologist embeds with a gang in Chicago.
The Cobalt Pipeline
Tracing the path of one of the world’s most in-demand minerals from deadly mines in Congo to your phone.
The Novelist Disguised as a Housewife
Shirley Jackson wrote 17 books while raising four children — and she couldn’t have had a successful career without them.
Strong Suit
How Dress for Success helps women break through socioeconomic barriers.
A Fatal Mistake
Why did the El Faro cargo ship sail directly into the path of Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 aboard?
John D. Rockefeller: A Character Study
A two-part write-around of the world’s only billionaire.
He was a silent boy — a silent young man. With years the habit of silence became the habit of concealment. It was not long after the Standard Oil Company was founded, before it was said in Cleveland that its offices were the most difficult in the town to enter, Mr. Rockefeller the most difficult man to see. If a stranger got in to see any one he was anxious. "Who is that man?" he asked an associate nervously one day, calling him away when the latter was chatting with a stranger. "An old friend, Mr. Rockefeller." "What does he want here? Be careful. Don't let him find out anything." "But he is my friend, Mr. Rockefeller. He does not want to know anything. He has come to see me." "You never can tell. Be very careful, very careful." This caution gradually developed into a Chinese wall of seclusion. This suspicion extended, not only to all outsiders but most insiders. Nobody in the Standard Oil Company was allowed to know any more than was necessary for him to know to do his business. Men who have been officers in the Standard Oil Company say that they have been told, when asking for information about the condition of the business, "You'd better not know. If you know nothing you can tell nothing."
How Massive Cuts Have Remade The Denver Post
The demise of a once-great newspaper.
The Man Who Brought You Brexit
“‘I’m going to devote myself full time to securing and then winning a referendum on leaving the EU,’ Daniel Hannan replied. The aide laughed down the line. ‘Good luck with that.’”
