The Marathon of Their Lives
Two very different fates at the Chicago Marathon.
4chan Camgirl Loli-chan Grows Up
What happened to “one of maybe 20 girls who became famous in the mid-‘00s for posting photos of themselves on image boards.”
The Secrets of Bezos
What it’s like to work for, compete against, and find out you’re the biological father of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. An excerpt from The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.
The Obama Administration and the Press
The White House’s unprecedented crackdown on reporters.
I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do. I Do.
Confessions of a serial husband.
Alice Munro: The Art of Fiction No. 137
“I think I knew that at heart I was an aging spinster.”
Jon Ronson, a contributor to This American Life, The Guardian and GQ, is the author of six books, including The Men Who Stare at Goats. His latest is Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
.
"The older you get, you realize that no uncomfortable fact makes your story worse. Contradictions are great. What's bad, what to me is the worst journalistic sin, is ridiculous polemicism. ... To me, the contradictions, the story not turning out the way you want—you have to be a twig in the tidal wave of the story."
Thanks to TinyLetter, EA SPORTS FIFA 14 and Learnvest for sponsoring this week's episode.
Show Notes
- @jonronson
- jonronson.com
- Ronson on Longform
- Ronson's This American Life archive
- Ronson's Guardian archive
- Ronson's GQ archive
- [7:15] "Who Takes the Class Out of Class Reunion" (This American Life • Jun 2006)
- [21:30] Them: Adventures with Extremists
(2001)
- [26:30] The Men Who Stare at Goats
(2004)
- [47:00] The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
(2011)
The Ghost of Speedy Cannon
How race and recollection still frame an Alabama football fatality 40 years later.
Why Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel Loves Selling Drugs in Chicago
How Chicago is key to a business moving tons of drugs for billions of dollars.
The Andrew Wylie Rules
An interview with the literary agent about the state of the book industry and how, at least for him, it continues to be quite lucrative.
Failure Is Not an Option
A decorated college track coach, forced to resign because of an affair she had with a athlete 10 years before, fights back.
Frank Sinatra Has a Cold: Annotated
The 1966 Esquire profile, with notes from the author.
On Thursday, October 10, Gay Talese will tape a live episode of the Longorm Podcast at NYU. The event is free and open to the public.
Chris Brown: 'It Was the Biggest Wake-Up Call'
“The first point he makes several times is that his new album will appeal to everyone; the second is that he is a changed man who’s grown up and calmed down. All I can say with certainty is that Brown is a stranger to the concepts of modesty and consistency.”
The Longform Guide to the Music Industry
The man who made Bieber, how Nickelback cashes in, and the story of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun—a collection of classic articles about the music industry.</p>
There's No Crying at the Pee Wee Super Bowl
The rigors of youth football.
Mugged by a Mug Shot Online
On the online mug shot industry, which posts mug shots of anyone arrested (regardless of conviction) and charges $30 to $400 to have the photo removed.
Dress Code
“In 1981, with a computer built into my shoe, I walked into a Las Vegas casino and beat the house.”
Voice and Hammer
He outsold Elvis, signed one of the first pay-for-play contracts and befriended Martin Luther King Jr. A profile of Harry Belafonte.
Cockblocked by Redistribution
A self-published author of pick-up guides visits the “pacifist nanny state” of Denmark and finds the social safety interferes with his seduction strategies.
Hard Work
Why a freshman congressman can’t get his bill passed.
Was an American College Student Kidnapped by North Korea?
A family investigates.
Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll
Badfinger’s ill-fated attempt at a comeback, as orchestrated by a Milwaukee con man.
Forms of Delirium
The rise of the Night Wolves, a Kremlin-backed biker gang, and what it says about the Russian political condition.
How the Feds Took Down the Dread Pirate Roberts
On the fall of Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged creator of The Silk Road, a hidden black market website where users could buy and sell drugs, guns and, according to the FBI, the services of a hit man.
How Brazil's Richest Man Lost $34.5 Billion
Oil and iron-ore baron Eike Batista’s very bad year.
