Longform

The creators of some of the most distinctive craft beers in the world are identical twins from Denmark. They also can’t stand each other.

Previously: Jonah Weiner on the Longform Podcast.

The perilous attraction of owning exotic pets.

Embedded with G4S, the world’s largest private army.

On the campaign trail with Richard Nixon.

What Rüdiger Heim learned about his father.

Excerpted from The Eternal Nazi.</p>

Revisiting the street corner where Franz Ferdinand was shot.

In an old mine an hour north of Pittsburgh, 600 federal employees manage paperwork for the government’s retirement system. By hand. On paper. Without computers. The same exact way they always have.

What caused the worst shipping disaster in maritime history?

On the post-prison lives of several men in West Baltimore.

On the FBI's failed negotiations with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco.

Previously: Malcolm Gladwell on the Longform Podcast.

The son of a Red Sox legend, his trail of violent attacks runs back to his teen years. So does the line of judges who somehow saw fit, time and again, to give him one more chance. Now he’s on trial for murder.

An engineering team races to create a next-generation computer.

The first installment of The Soul of a New Machine.

On children accused of sorcery in Congo.

On (not) getting by in the gig economy.

A forgotten birthday cake sets off a chain of unexpected events.

For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, check Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.

On Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, who died this week.

A report from ringside in Spain.

"For 20 beautiful years, my homeland was open and (kind of) free. Now, I fear, it’s closing back up."

Previously: Keith Gessen on the Longform Podcast.

How a group of vigilante cat-lovers seeking the hooded figure who suffocated a kitten in an internet video found a sadistic killer.

At a playground in North Wales, kids are mostly left alone to experiment with fire, jump from great heights and play in a creek. It’s designed to teach the value of taking risks, a lesson many American children have stopped learning.

How the group’s 10 members live today.

The author on how he was conned by Christian Gerhartsreiter, aka "Clark Rockefeller."

Excerpted from Blood Will Out.

“Telling who I am before I forget.”