Longform

An interview with Murphy at the apex of his power, just before the release of Harlem Nights.

“You know a storm is going to be bad, people in Oklahoma will tell you, when Gary England removes his jacket.” A profile of a meteorologist who has worked Tornado Alley for more than 40 years.

The life, work, and early death of writer Shirley Jackson.

“Let me say that again: Hedy Lamarr, arguably the most glamorous star of the pre-war period, also helped invent your cell phone and WiFi connection.”

On the lesbian separatists of the 1970s, who “created a shadow society devoted to living in an alternate, penisless reality.”

Meet Mark Millar, the brains behind our era’s most violent, ingenious comics.

A startup’s rocky search for profitability.

Billy Dillon was about to sign a contract with the Detroit Tigers. Instead he was convicted–wrongly–of first-degree murder and spent the next 27 years in prison.

On the attempt to rehabilitate Afghanistan’s child jihadis.

How a Peace Corps volunteer turned a high school basketball squad into Afghanistan’s national team.

Women who left their careers to be stay-at-home mothers reflect on the decision ten years later.

Unpacking a false confession 20 years later.

An interview on craft.

Script doctor Damon Lindelof explains the new rules of blockbuster screenwriting.

A profile of Ken Feinberg, lawyer who specializes in determining compensation after tragedies and disasters.

The Mennonite women of the Manitoba Colony would awake with blood and semen stains, dried grass in their hair, and tiny bits of rope on their wrists and ankles. Their rapists, armed with a veterinary tranquilizer converted to spray form, were eight young men from their own community.

The author, who died last week, tells the story of his guns.

The use and abuse of civil forfeiture.

How cable sports channels extort hundreds of dollars per year out of every cable subscriber for programming that less than 10% regularly watch.

Finding out your loved one is a notorious fugitive.

The last great brawling sports team in America—Reggie, Catfish, Goose, Gator, and the Boss—remember their fallen leader.

The inquiry into a nurse’s suicide after she was on the receiving end of a crank call.