Longform

On the Connecticut priest who dealt methamphetamine from his church and ran a sex ring from his apartment.

The economics of being a young writer.

The diarist and photographer Peter Beard, known both for his series documenting a mass elephant starvation and for discovering the supermodel Iman on a Nairobi street, reflects on his life of “drugs, debt, and beautiful women” while recovering from being trampled by an elephant.

A lesson in ethics.

Confessions of a Sweet Valley High ghostwriter.

The author examines his closest relationships.

On historian Ian Morris and his predictions for humanity’s future.

From 1975-1986, Anthony Edward Dokoupil distributed more than 50 tons of weed in the United States. The operation ruined his family and destroyed his life. Three decades later, his son came looking for answers.

“This is the story of Billy Conn, who won the girl he loved but lost the best fight ever.”

On Cecilia Chang, the St. John’s fundraiser who committed suicide after being convicted of fraud, and the university administrators who benefited from her crime.

A profile of Max Wade, a Marin County teenager on trial for stealing Guy Fieri’s Lamborghini and using it in the first drive-by in the history of Mill Valley, California.

Before he died, Sun Myung Moon, cult father to massive Unification Church (known better as the Moonies), sent 14 Japanese “national messiahs” deep into the Paraguayan jungle to build an utopian “ideal city.” Thirteen years later, the author catches a trading boat down river in search of their hidden town.

Shanghai, in 1989 and 2013. Excerpted from A History of Future Cities.

A profile of 101-year-old marathoner Fauja Singh.

Bob Voulgaris and his math prodigy sidekick attempt to create the perfect betting algorithm.

How Adalia Rose, a six-year-old with an early-aging disorder called progeria, became both an Internet celebrity and the target of online vitriol.

The science of acquired savant syndrome.

William Sparkman Jr., a census worker, was found hanging from a tree in rural Kentucky. He was naked, hands bound, with the letters “FED” written across his chest. Inside the investigation into how – and why – he died.

It was a 3-mile footrace. Thousands were in attendance. So how did Michael LeMaitre disappear?

Lessons from the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art.

The enduring disadvantage of getting locked up.

Reinventing a once-great whisky distillery in Scotland.

Inside the battle for how America snacks.