Next stop, Forbidden City
The fever-dream life and death of Chinese poet Gu Cheng.
The fever-dream life and death of Chinese poet Gu Cheng.
Eliot Weinberger London Review of Books Jun 2005 15min Permalink
Inside Office 39, a state-run counterfeiting operation designed to keep Kim Jong-il flush.
David Rose Vanity Fair Aug 2009 20min Permalink
The author of True Grit on growing up in Arkansas during World War II.
Charles Portis The Atlantic Dec 1969 Permalink
A Bush speechwriter tells all.
Matt Latimer GQ Sep 2009 20min Permalink
Walter Benjamin, mp3s, and what collecting says about us.
Julian Dibbell Feed Mar 2000 10min Permalink
Anatomy of an international incident; how three idealistic young American hikers wandered across the Kurdistan-Iran border and ended up in Iranian prison charged with spying.
Joshua Hammer Outside May 2010 20min Permalink
“Fiction writers are good people, usually. There’s a lot of pretenders, but I haven’t met a lot of sons of bitches.”
Barry Hannah, Wells Tower The Believer Oct 2010 15min Permalink
Putin, Medvedev, and how the Russian security agency FSB became the “new nobility.”
Amy Knight New York Review of Books Jan 2011 Permalink
Unruly teens from around the world are kidnapped by parental order and sent to ‘behaviour-modification centers’ like Tranquility Bay, a $40,000/year prison-like compound in Jamaica.
Decca Aitkenhead The Guardian Jan 2003 25min Permalink
The Wikileaks-released documents regarding the polonium-poisoning assassination of Alexander V. Litvinenko speak to the potential involvement of both British and Russian security agencies and hint at the disappearance of a plane that bore evidence of the transport of polonium.
Alan Cowell New York Times Dec 2010 Permalink
In 1926, at the age of 12, Barbara Follett published a critically acclaimed novel. Fourteen years later, she disappeared.
Paul Collins Lapham's Quarterly Dec 2010 Permalink
A profile of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, written at the midpoint of his career.
John Papanek Sports Illustrated Mar 1980 20min Permalink
A profile of director Sofia Coppola.
Karina Longworth LA Weekly Dec 2010 20min Permalink
The uneasy dance of the architecture critic, the big-name architect, the towering new building, and the city beneath it.
Alexandra Lange Design Observer Feb 2010 Permalink
“Look, we all know that every city is unique. That’s all we talk about when we talk about cities, those things that make New York different from L.A., or Tokyo different from Albuquerque. But focusing on those differences misses the point. Sure, there are differences, but different from what? We’ve found the what.”
Jonah Lehrer New York Times Magazine Dec 2010 20min Permalink
He called himself “TheNoseDoctor” and performed sinus surgeries, many of them unnecessary, at a maniacal clip. When the whole thing fell apart, he left behind his yacht and family, and disappeared into the Alps.
Buzz Bissinger Vanity Fair Jan 2011 35min Permalink
A jury foreman on the messy effectiveness of the American justice system.
Shandon Fowler Tux Life Nov 2010 10min Permalink
A young girl is reported missing. The detective assigned to her case quickly discovers she’s been gone for years. The story of his search for justice.
Lindsey B. Koehler 5280 Feb 2010 Permalink
“Most cities spread like inkblots; a few, such as Manhattan, grew in linear increments. Paris expanded in concentric rings, approximately shown by the spiral numeration of its arrondissements.”
Luc Sante New York Review of Books Dec 2010 Permalink
In 1975, Jackie O., widow to a president and tycoon, decided to become a literary editor.
Greg Lawrence Vanity Fair Jan 2011 30min Permalink
A working definition of ‘net neutrality’, a bestiary of the major players, and why the issue isn’t a cut and dry case of good vs. evil.
Farhad Manjoo Slate Dec 2010 Permalink
A profile of Winona Ryder.
Alex Pappademas GQ Jan 2011 15min Permalink
“My father didn’t believe in things that were a reminder of the past because he had never had things in the past, and, more important, he had never had a past—not a past that mattered, that should be passed on to me, his son.”
Pat Jordan Men's Journal Dec 2009 20min Permalink
A profile of Esquire features writer Chris Jones. Plus: the Jones archive on Longform.org.
Matthew Scianitti Ryerson Review Dec 2010 15min Permalink
On the gap between how the world sees Goldman Sachs and how Goldman Sachs sees itself.
Bethany McLean Vanity Fair Jan 2010 35min Permalink