The Man in the Bomb Suit
Embedded with a U.S. bomb squad in Baghdad.
The story that inspired The Hurt Locker.
Inside The Barista Class
An essay on the service economy.
Interview: Christo
The environmental artist on massive budgets, wrapping the Reichstag, and working alone.
Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It
The story of “the biggest retail hack in U.S. history.”
How Benjamin Kunkel Went From Novelist to Marxist Public Intellectual
“There was this brief moment when people who wrote blogs also cared about so-called literary fiction. Now it seems they’ve moved on. My doctor doesn’t give a fuck.”
Charlie Crist Loves to Love You
On the campaign trail with Florida’s malleable ex-governor.
The Mountains Where Women Live as Men
On the burrneshas of Albania.
Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower and Going Clear, is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
"If I had the chance to interview Osama Bin Laden, should I kill him? It’s a fair question. Suppose we’re having dinner — should I stab him with the bread knife? Do I have a moral obligation to kill him? Or do I have a moral obligation as a reporter to simply hear him?"
Thanks to TinyLetter and PillPack for sponsoring this week's episode.
Pamela Colloff is an executive editor and staff writer at Texas Monthly.
"That sense of loss, that sense of normal life turning on a dime is something that, in a very different way, I’ve experienced. And I carry that with me into some of the more difficult stories."
Mimi Swartz has written for Talk, The New Yorker and Vogue. She is an executive editor at Texas Monthly.
"Here’s this great [public interest] story that nobody’s ever told. Now how can I write it so the maximum number of people want to read it? I try to make the homework part as interesting and compelling as possible."
Thanks to TinyLetter and PillPack for sponsoring this week's episode.
Let Me Live That Fantasy
Searching for Puddles the Clown, whose cover of Lorde’s “Royals” made him an Internet star.
A Man Enough
A father’s undiagnosed dementia reveals a family’s vulnerability.
"The kind of stories I've gotten to do have involved fulfilling my childhood fantasies of having an adventurous life. Even though I don't make a ton of money doing it, I've never felt like I was missing out on something."
Matthew Power, a freelance journalist and friend, died on assignment in Uganda on Monday.
Above is Matt's Longform Podcast, recorded in February 2013. Some of our favorite stories from his archive:
Confessions of a Drone Warrior (GQ • Oct 2013)
During his nearly six years in the Air Force, Airman First Class Brandon Bryant flew hundreds of missions and logged almost 6,000 hours of flight time. He killed or helped kill 1,626 people. And he never left Nevada.
Mississippi Drift (Harper's • Mar 2008)
An ill-fated trip down the river with a group of anarchists.
Excuse Us While We Kiss The Sky (GQ • Mar 2013)
Navigating the sewers of London and summiting the peaks of Paris with a group of urban explorers.
Blood in the Sand (Outside • Jan 2014)
Investigating the murder of a Costa Rican conservationist.
One More Martyr in a Dirty War (VQR • Jun 2007)
The life and death of Brad Will.
Lost in the Amazon (Men's Journal • Jun 2009)
One man's absurd quest to become the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River—floods, electric eels, and machete-wielding natives be damned.
The Infinite Lives of BitTorrent
Despite its association with piracy, BitTorrent is a company in its own right, and one desperate to hit upon a way to monetize its revolutionary file transfer technology.
My Life and Times in Chinese TV
A surprising trip into the propaganda machine.
Arms Wide Open
The battle for Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Cristo Redentor statue.
They Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror
A Chicago housing project resident reports intruders breaking into her apartment through a medicine cabinet. Days later, she’s found dead.
The Invention of the AeroPress
A profile of Alan Adler, the guy behind the Aerobie and the beloved AeroPress.
The Reckoning
The Sandy Hook killer’s father tells his story.
Where the Wild Things Go Viral
Inside BuzzFeed’s adorable animal machine.
The 'Boys' in the Bunkhouse
For decades, dozens of men with intellectual disabilities lived in an old schoolhouse and did gruesome work in a turkey plant for subminimum wage. No one noticed.
The Ballad of Daniel Wolfe
On the rise of Indian Posse, the largest of Canada’s native gangs, and the fall of its leader.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Ericka"
A young man's connection with a circle-drawing, perceptive young woman.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, check out Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
Reaching My Autistic Son Through Disney
How Owen came to communicate again.
A Murder in Waurika
Two reports, twelve years apart, on the killing of a high school cheerleader in a small Oklahoma town and its aftermath.
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A Bend in the River
How the body of 16-year-old Heather Rich ended up in Belknap Creek and how the cops found the boys who put it there.
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A Question of Mercy
[sub req'd] More than fifteen years after prosecuting Rich's killers, a district attorney has second thoughts about one of the defendants.
"Geek Love" at 25
An ode to an enduring cult classic and its author, Katherine Dunn.
