Longform

In Argentina, where the fútbol underworld controls everything from t-shirt vending to murder, and “rowdy gangs” have turned the stadium into a battleground.

How one woman is monitoring the jihadi network from a home office in Montana.

A spy takes on his own agency.

Why the flood of money in this election is just the beginning.

On Bruce Springsteen’s song, and growing up in a factory town.

For the first time, the giants of the tech industry are spending more on creating, buying, and fighting patents than they are on R&D.

Part of New York Times’ ongoing iEconomy series.

Separated from his older brother at a train, five-year-old Saroo Munshi Khan found himself lost in the slums of Calcutta. In his 20s, living in Australia, he began his search for his birth home armed with nothing but hazy memories and Google Earth.

Frank Firetti, a 54-year-old pool salesman in Virginia, and his fading American dream.

On a biography of David Foster Wallace.

On the strange relationship between Lionel Messi and his Argentinian hometown.

On the staff of a Trader Joe’s in New York City.

A clue-filled children’s book, a golden hare, and Britain’s greatest treasure hunt.

How Tony Galeota went from mobbed-up teen on Long Island to legendary strip club manager in Miami to distraught prisoner in a Panamanian jail.

Grizzly Bear and the surprisingly crappy economics of indie rock stardom.

Convicted and facing jail time plus a crippling fine in Sweden, the founders of the torrent site The Pirate’s Bay have scattered across the world towards new lives: fatherhood in Laos, a junkie’s life in Phnom Penh, and start-up work in Berlin.

A Kosovar refugee must decide between love and family.

On the rise of K-pop.

When the best three months of your life are “called three of the uglier months in the recent history of the National Football League.”

A tale-of-the-tape breakdown of the 2012 presidential debates.

The dark art of presidential debate prep.

JPMorgan Chase’s $6 billion mistake and the woman who took the fall.

She lives in a world called Calalini with an invisible companion named 400-the-Cat; inside the life of a six-year-old with schizophrenia.