L.A. to Nepal
The work of California Task Force Two, the “Seal Team Six of disaster aid.”
Aneurysm
The intricacies of a delicate operation.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "The Republic of Bad Taste"
Secrets, dangers, and murder in a German police state.
"Andreas didn’t know what to say. What he wanted was for her to come and live in the basement of the rectory with him. He could protect her, home-school her, practice English with her, train her as a counsellor for at-risk youth, and be her friend, the way King Lear imagined being friends with Cordelia, following the news of the court from a distance, laughing at who was in, who was out. Maybe in time they’d be a couple, the couple in the basement, leading their own private life."
Tales from the eBay Crypt
The rewards and pitfalls of selling haunted objects.
The Wetsuitman
Two bodies wash up in Northern Europe, wearing identical wetsuits. The search for their identities leads authorities to a camp in Calais.
Rembert Browne is a staff writer at Grantland.
“I'm ok with not being at my most refined online at all times. It's happening in real time and some of that is therapeutic. I could write a lot this stuff privately, but I'd rather just hit publish and see what happens. It's a weird world. But I'm super deep in.”
Thanks to this week's sponsors: TinyLetter, Trunk Club, and QuickBooks Self-Employed.
Preying on Prisoners
On the penalties imposed – or not – on prison guards who have sex with inmates.
Displaced in the D.R.
A nation strips 210,000 of citizenship and sets the stage for mass deportations.
The Aftershocks of a Tea-Party Suicide
How a bid to unseat Senator Thad Cochran led to an illegal photo in a nursing home, a flurry of arrests, and the death of the man who brought the Tea Party to Mississippi.
Can Thusilie Madonsela Save South Africa From Itself?
On being South Africa’s “public protector,” charged with watching over the people who once liberated it.
The Kerouac Legacy
The “insane playfulness, deliberate infantilism, nutty haikus, naked stripteases, free-form chants and literary war dances of the beats” and their leader.
Flight Pattern
Tracking the humble hummingbird down to Belize.
Rise of al-Qaida Sahara Terrorist
A profile of Moktar Belmoktar, Al-Qaida’s “most difficult employee,” who was responsible for a major attack on an Algerian BP plant and, according to U.S. and Libyan forces, was killed in an air strike on Sunday.
At Rest in the Fields
A dispatch from Eloise Woods, a natural burial ground where bodies are consigned directly to the earth.
Sponsored
Five Huge Industries That Never Saw Disruption Coming
In 1960, the average major corporation lasted for 60 years. Today, it’s done after 15.
The Death Treatment
The legalizing of euthanasia is usually seen as a advancement in human rights. But is it appropriate for cases of non-terminal illness?
A Sentimental Education
The actress Tilda Swinton found herself dissatisfied with the schools available for her twins. So she founded her own.
The Cult of Jurassic Park
On the enduring appeal, both amateur and academic, of man vs. dinosaur.
The New Normal
Scenes of grief, from the sister of comedian Harris Wittels.
VNYL Sliding
The comic failings of a Kickstarter project that promised a “Netflix for vinyl.”
Mastermind
Tracing Europe’s migrant crisis to organized crime.
The True Story of the Manson Murders
An excerpt from the best-selling true crime book of all time.
Best of the Week: June 7-13
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Instagram’s Most Famous Mules
On the man who has turned the grunt work of packing into a social media phenomenon.
Four Columbia House Insiders Explain the Shady Math Behind “8 CDs for a Penny”
An oral history with former employees Sasha Frere-Jones, Alysia Abbott, Piotr Orlov, and Chris Wilcha.
