Love and Loss in a Small Texas Town
On the deadly explosion in West, Texas.
In the Line of Wildfire
Embedded with the “hotshots” trying to battle forest fires.
The Rock ’n’ Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero
After being fired from both Nirvana and Soundgarden, Jason Everman joined the Special Forces.
A Literary History of the San Andreas Fault: Bolinas
On the writers, poets and beats in a reclusive California town, where residents repeatedly tear down highway signs indicating its location.
The Marineland Dreamland
On disposing of a dead sea lion, and the pitfalls of memory.
Liquid City
The weird history and uncertain future of New York City’s shoreline.
Buried Secrets
How a secretive Israel billionaire seized control of an untapped iron ore deposit beneath one of Africa’s poorest countries.
The Call of Battle
After two tours in Iraq, the writer returns to a volatile region of Afghanistan as an embedded journalist.
How the NSA Targets Germany and Europe
Countries that the NSA has defined as close friends, or “2nd party,” include the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These countries, documents indicate, cannot targetted. “3rd Party” nations, like Germany, are offered no such protection and spying all the way up to the office of the Chancellor is suspected.
Michael Light in Conversation with Lawrence Weschler
How to photograph Los Angeles from a helicopter.
The Art of Translation
On the sins of the lazy translator.
The Watchers
A startup’s plan to launch a fleet of cheap, small, ultra-efficient imaging satellites and revolutionize data collection.
Los Infiltradores
Why three young undocumented activists intentionally got themselves detained.
The Octogenarian Who Took on the Shoguns
On Japan’s Hokkaido, an island the size of Ireland, and its rebel leader of lore, Shakushain.
Captive Audience
Listening to music in prison.
Evan Ratliff, a co-host of the Longform Podcast, discusses "The Oilman's Daughter," his new story in The Atavist.
"This woman was given the opportunity to take on a new identity. And it was a mistake. She never should've done it. If there was a way for her to go back and say, 'No, I don't want to know this. I want to be who I am,' then I think she should've taken that. … I'm fascinated with people who want to radically shift their identity. It almost never works out well."
The Upside of Trauma
What good can come of tragedy.
Armey in Exile
Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe build the most powerful Tea Party organization in the country. Then a feud threatened to undo everything.
Medical Research: Cell Division
The controversial history of WI-38, a cell strain created from an aborted fetus “that has arguably helped to save more lives than any other created by researchers.”
The Expendables
The plight of temporary workers in America.
Jimmy Wales Is Not an Internet Billionaire
The long, strange trip of the Wikipedia founder, who went from being an Insane Clown Posse fan who owned the “Bomis Babe Report” to a jet-setter married to “the most connected woman in London,” all without turning much of a profit.
You Listen to This Man Every Day
An interview with Rick Rubin.
How Glenn Greenwald Became Glenn Greenwald
“Before Glenn Greenwald was the journalist who broke and defended the most important story of 2013, he was many other things: an underage South Florida politician, a lawyer at a high-powered corporate firm, Kips Bay’s most combative tenant, and even the legal arm of his business partner’s gay porn distribution company.”
The Inside Story of Russia's Fight to Keep the U.N. Corrupt
How Russia consistently undermines the U.N. in order to keep a multi-billion dollar monopoly on the sales of helicopters and airplanes.
Steve Kandell is the longform editor at BuzzFeed.
"What would be the sort of longer, narrative nonfiction, journalistic equivalent of something that would have the same effect on you as a bunch of cat GIFs? And not because it's cute, but it's the kind of thing that makes you go, 'OK, I need a lot of other people to see this.'"
Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.
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