The Dark Side of the Moon
Forty-five years ago, Buzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon. It made him one of the most famous people in the world. And it has haunted the rest of his life.
The Race to Save Peter Kassig
A New York lawyer’s attempt to secure an American aid worker’s release from ISIS.
What 800 Nerds on a Cruise Ship Taught Me About Life, the Universe, and Snorkeling
Aboard the JoCo Cruise Crazy, a ship captained by singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton and built for nerds.
The Troll Hunters
A group of journalists and researchers wade into ugly corners of the Internet to expose racists, creeps, and hypocrites. Have they gone too far?
Wes Welker Will Not Be Denied
When should a football player, and in particular one who has suffered three concussions in 10 months, retire?
A Strange New Gene Pool of Animals Is Brewing in the Arctic
Climate change is giving rise to intermating between previously distinct species. Welcome to a world with “grolar bears.”
The Lost Bones
For more than a century, boys were sent to the Florida School for Boys reformatory. Many were beaten brutally and bear the physical and psychological scars to this day. Many others, though, never came home.
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Ground Truth
A search for lost boys and the reasons why they died.
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Puzzle Pieces
A neglected cemetery yields more bodies than expected, but names are harder to find.
How David Gregory Lost His Job
The inside story, involving low ratings, new ownership, suspected leaks, and a mandate that Meet the Press “loosen up.”
This Week's Most Popular Articles in the Longform App
<img src="http://longform.org/stuff/images/seven-month-old-twins-615.jpg" title=“babies and babies" class="bleed" alt=“”>The rise and murderous fall of a pecan dynasty in Texas, the inside story of how Marissa Mayer lost her way at Yahoo! and why a baby’s brain needs love to develop — the most read articles this week in the Longform App, available free for iPhone and iPad.
The Chopping Houses
Fears of witchcraft leave a trail of dismembered bodies in Buenaventura, Colombia.
"You Have Thousands of Angels Around You"
A refugee survives the Rwandan genocide and finds a future in Atlanta.
The Lives of Ronald Pinn
Creating, and then attempting to dismantle, a fake persona based on a man who died in 1984.
The Unbreakable Laura Hillenbrand
How the author writes best-selling non-fiction books without the ability to leave her house.
From Africa to Kent: Following in the Footsteps of Migrants
Tracing the steps of migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the Kent countryside.
Slut-Shaming, Eugenics, and Donald Duck: The Scandalous History of Sex-Ed Movies
On the fear-mongering history of sex education.
Host in the Shell
Immune systems don’t make for clean narratives, even as we expect them to keep us pure.
A Tree Is Known By Its Fruit
The rise and murderous fall of the Harkey family, the scions of a pecan dynasty.
School Segregation, the Continuing Tragedy of Ferguson
Michael Brown beat the odds by graduating from high school before his death—odds that remain stacked against black students in St. Louis and the rest of the country.
How Young Thug Got Trapped By A $15,000 Advance From A Major Label
360 degree deals and the music industry’s new hostages.
The Most Dangerous Idea in Mental Health
The belief that hidden memories can be “recovered” in therapy has been discredited, but the mental health establishment does not always learn from its mistakes—and families are still paying the price.
The Foreign Spell
To be a foreigner is to be perpetually detached, but it is also to be continually surprised.
Framed By Forensics
Junky, out-of-date science fuels jury errors and tragic miscarriages of justice. How can we throw it out of court?
The Longform Guide to Cuba
A collection of picks about exile, defection, revolution, and the country’s future.
Hanna Rosin is a senior editor at The Atlantic and a founder and editor at DoubleX.
“I often think of reporting as dating, or even speed dating. You’re looking for someone where there’s a spark there between you and them. Sometimes that happens right away and sometimes it takes forever. ... You have to determine if they're reflective, friendly, open. It could be love at first sight and they're still all wrong, which is really heartbreaking.”
Thanks to TinyLetter, Bonobos and The Los Angeles Times' Bookshelf Newsletter for sponsoring this week's episode.
Show Notes
- @HannaRosin
- hannarosin.com
- Rosin on Longform
- [1:00] "Murder by Craigslist" (The Atlantic • Aug 2013)
- [1:00] "Hello, My Name Is Stephen Glass, and I’m Sorry" (The New Republic • Nov 2014)
- [7:00] The End of Men: And the Rise of Women (Riverhead Books • 2012)
- [18:00] The Executioner's Song (Norman Mailer • Little, Brown • 1979)
- [18:00] "The Evil Empire: The Scoop on Ben & Jerry's Crunchy Capitalism" (The New Republic • Sep 1995)
- [23:00] "The New Republic: An Appreciation" (Ta-Nehisi Coates • The Atlantic • Dec 2014)
- [25:00] "Who Shot Johnny?" (Debra Dickerson • The New Republic • 1996) [pdf]
- [31:00] "A Boy's Life" (The Atlantic • Nov 2008)
- [38:00] "The Case Against Breast-Feeding" (The Atlantic • Apr 2009)
- [41:00] "The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind" (Binyamin Appelbaum • The New York Times • Dec 2014)
- [42:00] "The End of Men" (The Atlantic • Jul 2010)
- [43:00] "By Noon They'd Both Be in Heaven" (New York • Oct 2014)
- [46:00] "Why Kids Sext" (The Atlantic • Oct 2014)
- [49:00] "The Missing Men" (with Allison Benedikt • Slate • Dec 2014)
- [49:00] Sabrina Rubin Erdely on DoubleX Gabfest (with June Thomas and Katy Waldman • Slate • Nov 2014)
- [49:00] "Blame Rolling Stone" (Slate • Dec 2014)
- [49:00] "DoubleX Gabfest: The Aftermath of Rolling Stone Edition" (with Noreen Malone and June Thomas • Slate • Dec 2014)
Longform's Best of 2014
<p>We recommended 1,642 articles this year, from 1,364 writers and 417 publishers. Collectively, they were read over 10 million times.</p>
