The Shadow Commander
Iranian operative Qassem Suleimani has been reshaping the Middle East. Now he’s directing Bashar al-Assad’s war in Syria.
Inside the U.S. military's raid against its own security guards that left dozens of Afghan children dead.
In Aug. 2008, the U.S. military called in an airstrike on its own security guards in Afghanistan. Dozens of children were killed.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "These Bad Things"
A family camping trip; the effects of legends.
Lost in Summerland
At the world’s largest gathering of psychics and mediums, two brothers confront a painful secret.
A Translation Crisis at the Border
For migrants who speak Mayan languages, a grassroots group of interpreters is often their only hope for receiving asylum.
Jerry Saltz is a Pulitzer-winning art critic for New York.
“To this day I wake up early and I have to get to my desk to write almost immediately. I mean fast. Before the demons get me. I got to get writing. And once I’ve written almost anything, I’ll pretty much write all day, I don’t leave my desk, I have no other life. I’m not part of the world except when I go to see shows.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
A Few Too Many
On the centuries-long search for the perfect hangover remedy.
In the Beginning
The schism at the heart of cosmology.
This Will End Well
The world’s best ice climber is turning 50.
India: Intimations of an Ending
The rise of Modi and the Hindu far right.
The War Vet, the Dating Site, and the Phone Call From Hell
Jared Johns found out too late that swapping messages with the pretty girl from a dating site would mean serious trouble. If only he had known who she really was.
Faulty Equipment, Lapsed Training, Repeated Warnings: How a Preventable Disaster Killed Six Marines
Marine commanders did not act on dozens of pleas for additional manpower, machinery and time. When a training exercise ended in death, leadership blamed the very men they had neglected.
The Ultra-Wealthy Who Argue That They Should Be Paying Higher Taxes
In an age of historic disparity, Abigail Disney and the Patriotic Millionaires take on income inequality.
The Hacker Who Took Down a Country
Daniel Kaye, also known as Spdrman, found regular jobs tough but corporate espionage easy. He’s about to get out of prison.
The Itch
What the sensation of uncontrollable itch and the phantom limbs of amputees can tell us about how the brain works.
The Army of Prayer Warriors Fighting Trump’s Impeachment
As the Senate takes up his impeachment trial, white Christian evangelicals remain firmly in the president’s corner.
How a Former Bank Robber Saved Her Football Star Son
Antonio Carrion was headed for the NFL when the voices started and he drifted away. Then his estranged mother finished her time for robbery and saved him from a system that’s unkind to the mentally ill.
The Most Stylish Scammer: 20 Years of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’
Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film adaptation, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the coast of Italy, has become a cult classic (and a warning).
So You Think You Can Paint
Why is Rick DeVos, the son of Betsy and the heir to the DeVos fortune, investing in a weirdly populous and highly lucrative art contest?
Fiction Pick of the Week: "The Only One Who Could Ever Teach Me"
Widowers form a bond.
I and Thou: A Bigfoot Encounter
I sometimes miss believing, and look toward the days when I was satisfied by testimony—by the feeling that there were encounters everywhere, all seeming to attest to some great mystery.
Stolen and Erased
A Navajo girl was exploited and sex trafficked in urban and rural New Mexico. Why did so many fail to help her?
Chicago Christmas, 1984
How John, a father of 14, lost Christmas.
Liana Finck, a cartoonist and illustrator, contributes to The New Yorker and is the author of Excuse Me and Passing for Human.
"I was drawing since I was 10 months old. My mom had left this vibrant community of architects and art people to live in this idyllic country setting with my dad, and she poured all of her art feelings into me. She really praised me for being this baby genius, which I may or may not have been. But I grew up thinking I was an amazing artist. There weren’t any other artists around besides my mom, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to. There were no art classes around. … I was so shy, so I was just always drawing and making things."
Thanks to MailChimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
Miss Girard’s Christmas Gift
When her former student was found wandering the streets a decade after she’d last seen him, Michelle Girard immediately agreed to take him in. Then she decided to do far more, including give him the Christmas he’d never had.
