Modern Medicine Changed the Way We Die, and Not Always for the Better
On what you do and don’t learn in medical school.
The Evans Family Is Living in This World
The aftermath of a sudden death.
Abortion: Not Easy, Not Sorry
“I want to tell a different story, the more common yet strangely hidden one, which is that I don’t feel guilty and tortured about my abortion. Or rather, my abortions. There, I said it.”
The Future of the Culture Wars Is Here, and It's Gamergate
How a small group of gamers has been able to “set the terms of debate in a $100 billion industry, even as they send women like Brianna Wu into hiding and show every sign that they intend to keep doing so until all their demands are met.”
Anna Nicole Smith Kind of Made a Pass at Me
Profiling the sleepy reality tv star.
Interview: Johnny Depp
“I have a big cock in my living room.”
Reelin’ in the Years
Reconsidering Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando.
The Long Captivity of Michael Scott Moore
How a surfing writer kidnapped by Somali pirates was freed.
Wendy MacNaughton is a graphic journalist and the co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them.
"We mostly hear stories from big personalities who already have a spotlight on them. I think that everybody carries stories that are just as profound as the ones we hear from celebrities or whoever. I’m interested in the stories of people who don’t usually get to tell them. I think those are sometimes the most interesting."
Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.
Want to come work at Longform? We’re hiring a managing editor.
The Stradivarius Affair
The bungled theft of a $6 million violin.
The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons
When American and Iraqi soldiers were exposed to leftover chemical munitions from Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran, the Pentagon kept silent.
The Split
Relief pitcher Donnie Moore is best known for giving up a crucial home run during Game 5 the 1986 ALCS. It’s not what led to his suicide a few years later.
My Terrifying Night With Afghanistan's Only Female Warlord
Inside the stronghold of Commander Pigeon, “collector of lost and exiled men.”
Where the Tea Party Rules
A dispatch from Lima, Ohio.
“If We Run and They Kill Us, So Be It. But We Have to Run Now.”
The Nigerian schoolgirls who escaped Boko Haram.
Jackie's Goodbye
The cost of Alzheimer’s.
Fire Alarm
A journalist’s memories of covering the great Baltimore fire of 1904.
This Week's Most Popular Articles in the Longform App
A plane that fell from the sky, Zadie Smith's love-hate relationship with Manhattan, and the underground network that powers America's Chinese food restaurants — the most read articles this week in the new Longform App, available free for iPhone and iPad.
My Daughter, Myself
A mom on hitting menopause as her daughter hits adolescence.
The Holder of Secrets
A profile of Laura Poitras.
The 350,000 Percent Rise of Christopher Wool's Masterpiece Painting
A story of regret and the contemporary art market.
The Longform Guide to the CIA
Operations gone wrong, how the media covered for spies, and the story that became Argo — a collection of our favorite articles about the CIA.
The Spy Who Scammed Us?
Jamie Smith said he was a co-founder of Blackwater and a former CIA officer. He appeared on cable news as a counterterrorism expert and he received millions in goverment contracts to train personnel. The money was real. The resume wasn’t.
The Immigrant Sport
A trip to the U.S. Open of ping-pong.
