Longform

A profile of Arianna Huffington.

Born into Sea Org; a diary of a misspent youth (and adulthood) in the service of Scientology. “One of the first things I learned in the Sea Org, because I was a receptionist, was how to handle process servers.” (25,000 words)

How the Taliban reestablished itself as both a “quasi government” and a military force, and what that success means for the Pentagon’s plan to pass responsibility to Afghan forces by 2014.

What the twentieth century history of rocketry can tell us about innovation.

A newly minted, 34-year-old White House budget director gets a little too candid with a reporter profiling him during Ronald Reagan’s first year in office. Among Stockman’s many admissions: “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.”

Reporting from inside the Church’s Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles.

During his 35 years as a member of the Church of Scientology, Oscar-winning writer and director Paul Haggis went “all the way to the top.” The story of why he left, and what happened once he did.

The juvenile ward on Rikers Island is a world of constant violence fueled by gangs and, allegedly, encouraged and overseen by the guards.

The original new journalist on his start at the Times, his daily writing routine, and why he’s always taken notes on shirt boards.

February 1st, 2011. Tahrir Square, Cairo.

Supply and demand paid-sex economics, ‘hobbyist’ internet message boards, and the power of reviews.

“What you say is very unclear, but I suppose you mean that since I find one of your remarks illogical and since I like your poems, that therefore I must like poems which are illogical. But I don’t find your poems either logical or illogical. If you want this interview to have the logic of a poem and not ordinary logic we will have to start over again.”

In the aftermath of a mysterious murder, exploring a part of the story that has received little attention: the young man who lost his life.

Reporting from Kuwait on the week of its liberation, a brutal account of the atrocities committed during seven months of Iraqi occupation.

A requiem for the ‘content portal’ era.

From the Greeks to George Lucas, 2,200 years of failure.

On the group of friends who came to rule the bizarre, decreasingly lucrative world of Internet porn.

How a nation went bankrupt. “Ireland’s regress is especially unsettling because of the questions it raises about Ireland’s former progress: even now no one is quite sure why the Irish suddenly did so well for themselves in the first place.”

Jack Nicholson interviewed at 73.

“I’m not the kind of guy who hears voices. But that night, as I passed the station, I heard a little voice coming from the back of my head…‘If you do it that way, if you use that algorithm, there will be a flaw. The game will be flawed. You will be able to crack the ticket. You will be able to plunder the lottery.’”

A year-long investigation of America’s coroners and medical examiners reveals a deeply flawed, deeply troubling system.

How a legally dubious FBI sting lured a pair of Russian hackers stateside.

How YouTube went from ubiquitous to profitable; and where it goes next.

On Sam Cooke, theme parties, and the importance of McDonald’s-related jingles when street performing.

Money from relatives abroad, the lifeline for many Afghani’s, moves primarily through small hawala</em exchanges, which shift currency through cellphones, fax lines, and trust. When money moves in Afghanistan, however, connections to the heroin trade and terrorist groups are never far.