The Secret History of One Hundred Years of Solitude
The origin story of Gabriel García Márquez’s classic.
When I Die
A doctor who helped pioneer Oregon’s Death With Dignity law receives his own terminal diagnosis.
Stars—They're Just Like Us
On the appeal of astrology.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Anima"
A young woman's fears and observations, both past and present.
The Wayfarer
A wandering long-distance canoeist goes missing.
The Divorce Colony
If you wanted a divorce in the late 1800s, you had to move to South Dakota. Even if you were the niece of John Jacob Astor III.
Adrian Chen is a freelance journalist who has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Wired. His latest article is "Unfollow," about a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church.
“Twitter and social media get such a bad rep for being full of hate and trolls. And, you know, a lot of the stories I’ve written have probably bolstered that stereotype. I think a lot of people have a lot of anxiety and ambivalence about social media even though they love it—they’re on it all the time—and they’re kind of thinking of it as a vice, as something they should be ashamed of, as bad. But this is a very clear win. It's not some abstract thing you could never measure. No, it’s like, [social media] really did cause her to leave the church.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Casper, Squarespace, Mack Weldon, and Howl.fm for sponsoring this week's episode.
Ronda Rousey Says She's Down But Not Out
A profile of the UFC fighter after her first loss.
Encounter With the Infinite
In search of Ramanujan in India.
This Australian Says He and His Dead Friend Invented Bitcoin
Uncovering the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
Rebel Without a Pause
A profile of Killer Mike, the self-described “gangsta rap suburban father” whose speech about Ferguson went viral last fall.
Trudeau's Canada, Again
A profile of new Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
There Will Be Blood
When your job is making it seem like body decompositions, suicides, and murders never happened.
The Narco-Terror Trap
The DEA warns that drugs are funding terror. But is the agency stopping threats or staging them?
There Once Was a Girl
On the false narratives of anorexia.
Rotten Ice
Traveling by dogsled in the melting Arctic.
Dolls and Feelings
A profile of Transparent creator Jill Soloway.
A Survivor's Life
Her 4th day of college was a mass shooting. Here is what life is like afterward.
Rick Dyer’s Believe It or Not!
On tour with a man who has claimed to kill Bigfoot three different times.
Anarchy in the USA
Meet John Zerzan, arguably the most influential anarchist in America.
Death of a Valley
In the middle of a new drought, looking back at a drowned California town.
Aleksandar Hemon is a writer from Bosnia whose fiction and non-fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Granta. His books include The Lazarus Project, The Question of Bruno, and The Book of My Lives.
“For me and for everyone I know, that's the central fact of our lives. It's the trauma that we carry, that we cannot be cured of. The way things are in Bosnia, it's far from over. It's not peace, it's the absence of war. It's always there as a possibility. There's no way to imagine anything beyond a society defined by war.”
Thanks to The Standard Hotels, MailChimp, and Howl.FM for sponsoring this week's episode.
Mapping Home
Sarajevo, Chicago, and the memory of cities old and new.
Access Denied
Famous people and the media have always needed each other. It has been a long, mutually beneficial (and mutually profitable) partnership. And it’s over.
Tiger's Private Struggles
An interview with Tiger Woods as he turns 40.
