Which Way Did the Taliban Go?
As NATO leaves, the Afghan National Army grapples with a resilient Taliban.
Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, the Most Heartbreaking and Inspirational Story of the College Football Season, Is a Hoax
The story was told by Sports Illustrated, CBS News, and countless others: linbeacker Manti Te’o, Heisman trophy candidate and the face of Notre Dame football, was playing brilliantly despite the tragic loss of his girlfriend to leukemia early in the season. The reporters missed one key element of Te’o’s story, however: the girl hadn’t died. She couldn’t have. She didn’t exist.
The Last Years of Richard Pryor
In 1980, Richard Pryor doused himself in rum, lit himself, and streaked though the streets or Northridge in a ball of flames. He would go on to live another 25 years.
Starlee Kine is a contributor to This American Life and the New York Times Magazine.
"There's a fearlessness I had when I was younger that I don't have now ... It threw me into a crisis, the Internet in general. You're more cautious about what you kind of have out there. There's that, that I just don't want people to know every single thing anymore, but there's [also] an inner fear that did not exist before, an inner censoring that was not there."
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For Amusement Only
From pinball prohibition in 1940s NYC to Dave & Buster’s, the rise and fall of the American arcade.
The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle
On the casting process for New York’s cult leader-like spin instructors.
The Longest Hunger Strike
An inmate’s protest.
Against Joie de Vivre
Why parties, love, kids, conversation and more are so miserable (at least to Phillip Lopate).
96 Minutes
An oral history of the University of Texas Tower massacre.
The Real Cuban Missile Crisis
A reassessment of the calm, cool JFK.
Brainwashed!
The psychology of cults and the scholars who fight about it.
The Party Faithful
The rise of Israel’s far right.
Toastmaster
Adventures in public speaking.
The Inside Job
A bookkeeper’s $9 million swindle, her lavish second life, and the boss who didn’t notice.
Boomtown Slum
A day in the economic life of the Nairobi’s Kibera, the largest shanty-town in Africa.
RIP, Aaron Swartz
A eulogy for the activist.
Semi-Charmed Life
Parsing the lives of middle-class twentysomethings.
In the Time of Cholera
The U.N.’s role in creating an epidemic in Haiti.
The Tip of the Spear
A reporter who investigated Scientology tracks down the man who once ran the church’s intelligence operations – and who may hold the secret to years of harassment (and the mysterious death of a pet dog).
The New Mecca
The author travels to Dubai; Arab children see snow for the first time, which is made by a Kenyan.
One Martyr Down
An investigation into the death of a Canadian soldier in Lebanon.
The Mystery of Lightning Medicine Cloud
An investigation into the death of a sacred white buffalo and the man who raised it.
Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie
Tales of mayhem on the set of The Canyons.
Right Here Waiting
After offending Richard Marx, the author meets him to hash things out.
New Delhi Attack: The Victim's Story
A profile of the 23-year-old woman who was savagely raped on a private bus as it circled New Delhi.
