Did North Korea Kidnap an American Hiker?
When David Sneddon disappeared hiking around western China, officials chalked it up to a drowning. A decade later, it appears he had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea.
When David Sneddon disappeared hiking around western China, officials chalked it up to a drowning. A decade later, it appears he had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea.
Chris Vogel Outside May 2014 25min Permalink
The laundry wars of Silicon Valley.
Jessica Pressler New York May 2014 20min Permalink
A study in building spaceships.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, try Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
Amy Benson The Collagist May 2014 10min Permalink
Tom Cruise did not, in fact, jump up and down on Oprah’s couch.
Amy Nicholson LA Weekly May 2014 20min Permalink
Deep in the jungle, the tourists were targetted, but only the porters were hacked by the machetes. Was it a robbery? Or a deeper pattern of violence amongst ancient tribes?
Carl Hoffman Outside May 2014 30min Permalink
On the urge to live in a house you can't afford, the "acceptable lust" of American life.
Michael Lewis Portfolio Sep 2008 20min Permalink
“Someone has sliced open soccer’s hourglass, and the sand has come pouring out on to the streets.”
Supriya Nair Roads & Kingdoms May 2014 Permalink
Scott Catt was a single dad trying to make ends meet, so he started robbing banks. Then he needed accomplices, so he asked his kids.
Skip Hollandsworth Texas Monthly May 2014 20min Permalink
The fight over an alleged Israeli war crime.
Batya Ungar-Sargon Tablet May 2014 30min Permalink
On the decline of America.
David Remnick GQ May 1988 15min Permalink
Collections Sponsored
A collection of picks about different eras of life in New York City, inspried by Twice Upon a Time: Listening to New York, the new, multilayered essay by acclaimed author Hari Kunzru. Buy it today from Atavist Books.
The lonesome death of Arnold Rothstein, notorious gambler, inspiration for a the character Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby, alleged fixer of the 1916 World Series, opiate importation pioneer, mobster and Jew.
Nick Tosches Vanity Fair May 2005 40min
When New York was perpetually on fire.
Luc Sante New York Review of Books Nov 2003 15min
On police brutality in New York and the race riots of 1964.
James Baldwin The Nation Jul 1966
Watching the jazz singer in New York.
Elizabeth Hardwick New York Review of Books Mar 1976 15min
Jacob Riis, writing in 1899, on how a childhood spent in New York City’s tenements led a 15-year-old boy to be convicted of murder.
Jacob Riis The Atlantic Sep 1899 25min
A profile of Chloë Sevigny, 19-year-old It Girl.
Jay McInerney New Yorker Nov 1994
Memories of the old neighborhood, before everything changed.
Arthur Miller Holiday Mar 1955 25min
Sep 1899 – May 2005 Permalink
An informational interview during which the author is advised, “Find a rich husband, and then you can work at whatever you like on the side, and it doesn’t matter, because you already have money.”
Mallory Ortberg The Toast May 2014 10min Permalink
A pastor-turned-banker fakes his own death after allegedly embezzling millions and defrauding investors.
Charles Bethea Atlanta Magazine Jun 2014 40min Permalink
Michael Paterniti, a correspondent for GQ, has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone and Outside. His latest book is The Telling Room.
"I want to see it, whatever it is. If it's war, if it's suffering, if it's complete, unbridled elation, I just want to see what that looks like—I want to smell it, I want to taste it, I want to think about it, I want to be caught up in it."
Thanks to this week's sponsors: TinyLetter and Hari Kunzru's Twice Upon a Time, the new title from and Atavist Books.
May 2014 Permalink
The city’s drop in crime has been nothing short of miraculous. A year-long investigation into the numbers.
David Bernstein, Noah Isackson Chicago Magazine Apr–May 2014 55min Permalink
Parking garages, prisons, freeways and the world of stuff we’re not supposed to look at.
Rebecca Solnit London Review of Books Jul 2004 15min Permalink
Gabrielle Williams is nine years old. She weighs just 12 pounds. The mystery of “syndrome x” and the girls who never age.
Virginia Hughes Mosaic May 2014 25min Permalink
How CREW and MUSTIE decide what books stay in a library's circulation.
Phyllis Rose Medium May 2014 15min Permalink
Sponsored
Our sponsor this week is Twice Upon a Time, a new memoir from acclaimed author Hari Kunzru. When he moved to New York City, Kunzru choose as his imaginary guide the blind composer and musician Moondog, aka Louis Hardin. With great lyrical intensity Kunzru recalls the strange soundscape of an unfamiliar place, and celebrates both the city and the musical genius of Moondog.
Twice Upon a Time is the second title from Atavist Books and offers a unique, multilayered digital experience combining a beautiful prose essay on the sounds of New York with the extraordinary music of Moondog and binaural recordings of the city itself.
Why humans love to watch other creatures.
David P Barash Aeon May 2014 15min Permalink
The fall of PCCare247, an Indian company in the business of selling fixes to problems that didn’t exist.
Nate Anderson Ars Technica May 2014 15min Permalink
Pimp, brawler, Old Master.
Stephen Akey The Millions May 2014 25min Permalink
</h2>David Foster Wallace, Sheryl Sandberg, Jon Stewart — a collection of classic graduation speeches.
The disturbing double life of a popular English teacher.
Glenna Whitley D Magazine Feb 1993 35min Permalink
How an anti-government militia grew on a U.S. Army base.
Nadya Labi New Yorker May 2014 40min Permalink