The Million-Dollar Nose
A profile of wine critic Robert Parker.
The Atul Gawande Archive
The mystery of the itch, the case for focusing on our neediest patients, an investigation of solitary confinement and more—Gawande’s pieces on Longform.
Big Med
What the health care industry can learn from how The Cheesecake Factory does business.
The Slave Who Sailed Around the World
On Enrique of Malacca, “the closest thing there is to a hero in the story of Ferdinand Magellan’s horribly botched attempt to circumnavigate the world.”
Slackers
On distance running and the art of exhaustion.
The Economics of Serial Dating: A Case Study
What one woman spends in a year.
Does Cybercrime Really Cost $1 Trillion?
No, but for security software companies it’s a useful fiction.
My Platonic Sweetheart
In a posthumously published essay, Twain recounts dreams of a long-lost love.
The Loved One
In the late 90s, an American man adopted a 5-year-old from the Ukraine. A decade later, one of the two would be accused of molesting young boys. The other would be charged with murder.
The Long, Lawless Ride of Sheriff Joe Arpaio
A profile of “not just the toughest but the most corrupt and abusive sheriff in America.”
99 Ways to Be Naughty in Kazakhstan
How Cosmo, with 64 international editions and a readership that would make it the world’s 16th largest country, conquered the globe.
The Narco Tunnels of Nogales
The underground routes by which drugs enter the U.S. from Mexico, and the officials who’ve found it almost impossible to curb their construction.
Sponsored
Sponsor: Contents Magazine
What can be salvaged from publishing? What does it mean to write for the 50% of US adults who have trouble reading? What happens to crime reporting when you cover every victim, every suspect, every murder with the same care?
Contents publishes open-source editorial ideas for new journalism, digital publishing, content strategy, and everything in between. Always free, always online, fresh each week.
We recommend their latest piece, "House of Cards" by Robin Sloan.
For information about sponsoring Longform, click here.
No Refuge
A look back at the 2008 raid on Warren Jeffs’ polygamous Mormon sect.
The Debtor
Darren Lumar lived in mansions he didn’t own, ran companies that didn’t make a dime, went to colleges that didn’t exist and slept with “any number of women” despite being married to James Brown’s daughter. When he was murdered, the cops had a problem: too many possible suspects.
Some Jews & The Gays
Vidal on Midge Decter, homophobia and a proposed alliance between Jews and gays.
Plasenzuela's Dirty Secrets
Welcome to Plasenzuela, whose 500 inhabitants enjoyed no-show jobs, spent millions on phantom projects and defrauded Social Security.
Patton Oswalt's Letters to Both Sides
Creators, gatekeepers, and the future of the comedy business.
A transcript of Oswalt’s keynote at last week’s Just For Laughs conference.
Broken Heartland
The looming collapse of agriculture on the Great Plains.
Healing Spirits
On the uneasy relationship between magic and medicine.
The Heretic
On the legal history of LSD in America and a researcher who never gave up on the drug’s promise.
Gore Vidal: The Art of Fiction No. 50
INTERVIEWER: You once said the novel is dead. VIDAL: That was a joke.
Adam Wheeler Went to Harvard
Adam Wheeler lied on his college application. Lawrence Summers facilitated the destruction of the global economy.
Only one of these Harvard men was given jail time.
How I Hacked My Brain with Adderall: A Cautionary Tale
“Transforming into an Administrative Jekyll for a certain amount of time every day limits the amount of time my Creative Hyde can come up with content to market and sell. Luckily, amphetamines have that problem tackled as well: when you’re using them, you don’t have to sleep… at all.”
The Tax Haven in the Heart of Britain
The history of the City of London Corporation, a “prehistoric monster which had mysteriously survived into the modern world.”
