Deception Is Futile
In search of the perfect lie detector test.
Diving Deep into Danger
On commercial diving, the third most deadly profession.
In this special episode with Stephen Rodrick, contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and contributing editor at Men's Journal, Rodrick discusses his recent story "Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie."
"Publicists don't want to give you access because they're afraid of what you're going to see. But if you spend enough time with anybody, short of Mussolini or Ghengis Khan, they're going to humanize themselves. Because they're human beings, like you are. And they have whatever demented battles they're fighting, their version of crazy, but if you get to spend some time with them as flesh and blood, they're going to come across as flesh and blood in the story."
Theater of Pain
Being injured in the NFL.
Solving Kathy Mabry's Murder
How an overzealous forensic pathologist and his odontologist sidekick put innocent Mississippi residents behind bars – and let killers run free.
Hearts and Minds
How PTSD spreads from returning soldiers to their families.
Sponsored
Sponsor: Aeon Magazine
Our sponsor again this week is Aeon, a new digital magazine of ideas and culture. Aeon publishes an original essay every weekday, several of which have been picked for Longform. Here is a trio of recent favorites:
Luddite Love
Claire L Evans on why old relationships should fade like a photograph, not haunt your social networks forever.
Earth's Holy Fool?
Michael Ruse on the Gaia paradox — some scientists hate it, the public loves it, and they may both be right.
World Enough
John Quiggin on the emerging opportunity to simultaneously end poverty and protect the environment.
Read those stories and more at aeonmagazine.com.
The Longform Guide to Internet Hoaxes
Edge and the Art Collector
Steven Cohen, troubled founder a $14 billion hedge fund, has an eye for modern art.
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."
Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode!
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.
