The High Priest of Jazz
A profile of Thelonious Monk.
A profile of Thelonious Monk.
Lewis Lapham The Saturday Evening Post Apr 1964 15min Permalink
Inside the dark, lucrative world of consumer debt collection.
Jake Halpern New York Times Magazine Aug 2014 30min Permalink
The antagonistic partnership that produced Sunset Boulevard.
Matthew Dessem The Dissolve Jun 2014 25min Permalink
“What transpired in the streets appeared to be a kind of municipal version of shock and awe.”
Jelani Cobb New Yorker Aug 2014 Permalink
This is what happens when you concoct game-fixing allegations against a Major League pitcher because of a perceived slight on Facebook.
Lance Williams, Brian Tuohy Center for Investigative Reporting Aug 2014 20min Permalink
Professional wrestling as the epitome of American capitalism.
Dan O'Sullivan Jacobin Aug 2014 25min Permalink
A profile of Florida’s former (and perhaps future) governor.
Adam C. Smith, Michael Kruse Tampa Bay Times Aug 2014 40min Permalink
Lewis Lapham, formerly the editor of Harper's, is the founder of Lapham's Quarterly.
"The best part of my job was to come across a manuscript. You never knew what would show up. ... I always had the sense of opening a present, hoping to be both delighted and surprised. Often I was disappointed. But when I wasn't, it was a lot of fun. And word got around that I was that kind of an editor, that I was willing to try anything if you could make it interesting."
Thanks to TinyLetter and GoDaddy for sponsoring this week's episode.
Aug 2014 Permalink
Lauren Bacall at 86.
Matt Tyrnauer Vanity Fair Mar 2011 30min Permalink
Catching up with Edward Snowden in Moscow.
James Bamford Wired Aug 2014 10min Permalink
On frozen dumplings, industrial freezers, and what the future could hold after China’s burgeoning refrigeration boom.
Nicola Twilley New York Times Magazine Jul 2014 20min Permalink
Navigating the alligator-infested rivers of North Florida.
Wells Tower Outside Mar 2009 20min Permalink
An experiment in public defense.
Jason Fagone Mother Jones Aug 2014 25min Permalink
A profile of the Rookie editor-in-chief, who makes her Broadway debut next week.
Amy Larocca New York Aug 2014 15min Permalink
“If you take the chance, sometimes you’ll find something so magnificent that it was worth dying for, and sometimes you’ll find nothing and have a horrible night. To go deeper with it, that’s the most interesting challenge.”
Larry Grobel Playboy Jan 1992 50min Permalink
Meet Adam.
Luke Malone Matter Aug 2014 30min Permalink
On PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the experience of covering AIDS in Africa.
Emily Bass Vela Jul 2014 25min Permalink
A terrifying stalker, a crooked cop and a failed plan in Russia — the week's top stories on Longform.
“I write this with a baseball bat by the bed.”
Helen DeWitt London Review of Books Aug 2014 15min
What U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul has seen in Russia since he arrived two and a half years ago.
David Remnick New Yorker Aug 2014 45min
On the history of masturbation.
Stephen Greenblatt The New York Review of Books Apr 2004 20min
Louis Scarcella was a star New York City detective in the ’80s and ’90s, cracking cases no one else could. Now it appears that many of the people he put away were innocent, forced into false confessions and convicted with testimony from flimsy witnesses. Scarcella maintains that he did nothing wrong, despite evidence against him much stronger than in many of his cases.
Sean Flynn GQ Aug 2014 25min
On Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Flickr and now Slack, a wildly popular, difficult-to-describe messaging service that has 38,000 paying subscribers just a few months after launching.
Apr 2004 – Aug 2014 Permalink
Untangling the aftermath of a United States drone strike in Yemen.
Gregory D. Johnsen Buzzfeed Aug 2014 30min Permalink
The story of a naïve fisherman, a boat headed for Spain and 1.5 tons of cocaine.
Noah Richler The Walrus Jun 2014 35min Permalink
Two truckers talk on a wintry Alaskan highway.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, try Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
Ryan W. Bradley Corium Aug 2014 10min Permalink
To understand why a 64-year-old man would try and break the land speed record by traveling hundreds of miles per hour, you need to know a little something about his family.
Ann O'Neill CNN Aug 2014 20min Permalink
Rand Paul as the movement’s Pearl Jam.
Robert Draper New York Times Magazine Aug 2014 25min Permalink
A five-part series on the instant gratification economy.
Liz Gannes Re/Code Aug 2014 50min Permalink
Sandra Bridewell, a Dallas socialite, and the people around her who keep dying.
Eric Miller, Skip Hollandsworth D Magazine May 1987 45min Permalink