Diary: Online Dating
On the internet dating pool.
Welcome to the Hotel of Doom
A visit to the hotel North Korea starved to build, still unfinished after breaking ground in 1987.
The Gay-Marriage Plot: Inside This Year's Other High-Stakes Campaign
The activists, politicians, and social trends that led to 2012’s gay marriage victories.
Introducing Longform Fiction
A new, standalone section on Longform featuring one fiction pick per day. Edited by Jeremy Bushnell and Jamie Yates. Also available in the Longform App and on Twitter @longformfiction.
Fallen Dean’s Life, Contradictory to Its Grisly End
A prolific fundraiser and dean at St. John’s University, Cecilia Chang was also accused of murdering her husband and had connections to organized crime. Two days after she was convicted of stealing more than $1 million from the schoool, she took her own life.
Portrait of the Artist on Crystal Meth
Is Bryan Saunders a drug-inspired outsider genius, or just in need of intervention?
Cockford's Club
On William Cockford and his 1800s gambling hall in London, where much of the British aristocracy lost its fortune.
The Best-Kept Secret in American Journalism is Murray Kempton
“Four mornings a week Murray Kempton, the Huckleberry Finn of American journalism, climbs onto his bicycle and pedals out into the world in search of what may be there. For more than thirty years he has been finding things other writers have not even thought to look for, and he has done so with a compelling humanity that is rare not just in his profession but in the human race as well. I have followed him as he made his regular rounds, and I have eaten at his table, and I am not all that certain that he is not the greatest man I have ever met.”
In Rust Belt, a Teenager’s Climb from Poverty
A profile of 11th-grader Tabitha Rouzzo.
Operation Delirium
The legacy of a secret Cold War program that tested chemical weapons on thousands of American soldiers.
Back to the Grind
A coffee maven—and Frappuccino inventor—attempts a comeback in the cafe business.
The Bandler Method, by Frank Clancy and Heidi Yorkshire
He was the father of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (a school of therapy that some would liken to scientific brainwashing), a guzzler of cocaine, and a highly paid lecturer with fabricated credentials. He was present when a young woman shot herself in Santa Cruz—but did he pull the trigger? A “parable for the New Age.”
The Rise and Fall of Jeremy Hammond: Enemy of the State
On the U.S. government’s pursuit of a legendary hacker.
Signifying Rappers
Inside North Dorcester’s RJam Productions studio, where Nate and Gary Smith churn out rap demos for $500/tape.
Megan Phelps-Roper of Westboro Baptist Church: An heir to hate
The next generation of America’s most controversial (and likely most despised) church.
Escape to Alcatraz
On prison tourism.
Horrific Fire Revealed a Gap in Safety for Global Brands
The human lives lost in exchange for cheaper goods.
The Gene Weingarten Archive
Legendary birthday clowns, tragically neglectful parents, and a dogged search for the armpit of America — Weingarten on Longform.
Since 1979, Brian Murtagh has fought to keep convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in prison
Analysis of the divisive murder case.
2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten
An oral history of Freaks and Geeks.
The Hells Angels' Devilish Business
How the biker gang makes money.
Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder Brings Woman Agony, Not Ecstasy
Gretchen Molannen was perpetually aroused. She couldn’t work or sleep.
On December 1, the day after this story was published, she killed herself.
Tinker To Evers To Chance ... To Me
The brilliant, tragic life of Hall of Fame second baseman Johnny Evers.
Twelve Easy Pieces
On a business that sells packaged pre-sliced apples as snack food.
Choire Sicha is co-founder of The Awl.
"People come to me pretty much every week ... and say 'I'm starting a website about ... say ... Canadian ... candy makers' and they're like 'What's the secret?' And I say, the secret is when we launched there were three of us. Two of us were doing editorial. And one of was doing business. And guess what? We had a new product and he had nothing to do all day so he had to make himself a job that was about revenue. So, who is this dedicated person at your company? And they're like 'we're both editorial' and I'm like 'you're hosed, you're done, forget about it.'"
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