Longform

On Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the duo behind Broad City.

The Wall Street firm that bailed out Robert Mugabe.

When adults like Billy Smolinski go missing, it’s hard to get the authorities involved.

On the comedian’s relationship with his son and how it changed the course of The Cosby Show.

While war raged across Afghanistan, expats lived in a bubble of good times and easy money. But as the U.S. withdraws, life has taken a deadly turn.

A profile of Michelle Lyons, who viewed 278 executions as both a local reporter and a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The full text of a 20,000-word ebook on the interpreters who worked alongside American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their fates once they were no longer of service.

In exchange for his surrender, the top Colombian drug lord was allowed to build his own jail, complete with a disco, jacuzzi, and waterfall. Now 23 years later, it’s a home for the elderly.

On the trail of Austin Tice and the late James Foley, freelance journalists who were kidnapped in Syria in 2012.

On the highly enjoyable, nearly fatal first experiments with laughing gas in late 18th-century London.

Elias Pompa is the lone deputy in one of the poorest counties in Texas. He is also at the center of the U.S. border crisis.

Kim Goodsell had a pair of rare diseases. Doctors didn’t have the time to look for a link. So she taught herself genetics and found it herself.

On the anger that led to the Watts Riots of 1965, the mistakes made during those six days in August, and how little changed afterward.

On a childhood fascination with the mid-18th century battle.

In 1984, Jacqui met Bob Lambert at an animal-rights protest. They fell in love, had a son. Then Bob disappeared. It would take 25 years for Jacqui to learn that he had been working undercover.

On Cops, cop movies and Ferguson.

A profile of the Megaupload founder, who has started a political party in New Zealand as the U.S. continues to fight for his extradition.

Once their careers end, pro wrestlers often fall into emotional and physical disrepair. One of their own, Diamond Dallas Page, has a fix.

On Johnny Carson, a cold man in a hot seat.

When Kenneth Jarecke photographed the charred remains of an Iraqi soldier during the Gulf War, he thought it might help challenge the popular narrative of a clean, uncomplicated battle. He was wrong.

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.”

How to understand the real-world value of things that are worth nothing and everything at once.

On the platonic but volatile relationship between fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in 2010 and professional muse Isabella Blow, who committed suicide in 2007.