Fiction Pick of the Week: "The Liar"
Childhood lies and truthful, uncomfortable memories.
Three Years of Nights
Violence convulses the city of Chicago after dark. Reporting on it leaves its own scars.
Gabriel Sherman is the national affairs editor at New York and the author of the New York Times best-seller The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News—and Divided a Country.
“There was a time when we got death threats at home. Some crank called and said, ‘We’re gonna come after you. You’re coming after the right, we’re gonna get you.’ That was scary because, again, you don’t know if it’s just a crank when you have right wing websites that are turning you into a target. You know, it’s one thing if they do it with a politician. They have security or handlers—I don’t have any of that.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode.
Change Brings Struggle for This Vermont Logger
Dave Goodhouse can’t really make a living anymore. But he can’t get out either.
None Dare Call It a Conspiracy
In 2009, Condé Nast allowed this story to appear in print but refused to publish it online or distribute it in Russia for fear of retribution. The story, which details the intrigue behind the Moscow apartment bombings that allowed Vladimir Putin’s rapid ascension to power, is reprinted on Longform courtesy of the author.
Mysterious American Cat
On the mountain lions of Los Angeles.
Scenes From the Terrifying, Already Forgotten JFK Airport Shooting That Wasn’t
“There was no they.' There was not even a 'he,' no armed person turning on a crowd. But what happened at JFK last night was, in every respect but the violence, a mass shooting.”
Cam Newton on Everything
A profile of the Carolina Panthers quarterback.
Ivanka and Jared’s Power Play
On the couple and their role in the 2016 election.
Hard Times in Venezuela Breed Malaria as Desperate Flock to Mines
As jobs and food disappear, formerly middle class Venezuelans are descending on gaping illegal mining pits, some as deep as fifteen stories, searching for gold but often finding armed gangs and malaria.
Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself
Surveillance as daily life along the Texas border.
The Man Who Created Bigfoot
Fifty years ago, rodeo man Bob Gimlin was a Bigfoot skeptic. Then he and a friend caught the creature on tape.
Is America Any Safer?
Since 9/11, the United States has spent $1 trillion on national security. An investigation into whether it has worked.
Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream
On Lucille Miller, who in San Bernadino in 1964 was convicted of burning her husband to death in his Volkswagen.
The Rise and Fall of Gerd Bonk, the World Champion of Doping
An East German weightlifter ingested more anabolic steroids than any other athlete in recorded history. It didn’t end well.
Rise and Scam
Joanne the Scammer has celebrity fans and a massive YouTube following. Branden Miller barely leaves his Daytona Beach apartment.
Future's Reign
The 32-year-old Atlanta rapper released three No. 1 albums in seven months.
Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined
Are megafarmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick visionary philanthropists or shrewd water barons?
Simone Biles Is the Best Gymnast in the World
A pre-Olympics profile of the now-gold medalist.
Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart
A full-issue length, 42,000-word history of the dissolution of the Middle East, from the invasion of Iraq 13 years ago until present.
“A Honeypot for Assholes”
Inside Twitter’s 10-year failure to stop harassment.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Blossoms"
A girls' camp nature walk takes an unusual, grotesque turn.
Can Brazil Be Saved?
Colossal corruption. Political chaos. The worst recession in its history. How a once-booming nation fell.
Ezra Klein the editor-in-chief of Vox.
“I think that if any of these big players collapse, when their obits are written, it’ll be because they did too much. I’m not saying I think any of them in particular are doing too much. But I do think, when I look around and I think, ‘What is the danger here? What is the danger for Vox?’ I think it is losing too much focus because you’re trying to do too many things.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Casper, and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode.
Michael Phelps' Final Turn
“Rio is about far more than Phelps adding to his legacy. It’s the next step toward achieving the same peace and balance on land as he’s had in the water.”
