The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power
An investigation of Scientology.
An investigation of Scientology.
Richard Behar Time May 1991 Permalink
A writer struggles to understand, among other things, why humans do more for whooping cranes than for themselves.
George Sibley High Country News Sep 2010 10min Permalink
A writer struggles to defend his arbor vitae trees from a pack of hungry deer—“an episode of great vexation and buffoonery.”
Garret Keizer Lapham's Quarterly Jun 2008 15min Permalink
A Wikipedia-style dissection of the case that inspired The Fugitive. The accused, Dr. Sam Sheppard, claimed to have struggled with an intruder before being knocked out and dumped on a beach, his wife’s left corpse in their house.
Denise Noe Crime Magazine Jun 2010 Permalink
The sordid, petty world of “gossip item” sources for the New York Post and The Daily News, and what happens when they go bad.
Vanessa Grigoriadis New York May 2005 20min Permalink
A trip to the Russian baths helps author start to see the good in his terrible eyesight.
Joshua Wolf Shenk Guilt and Pleasure Jun 2007 Permalink
A new strain of educational thought (and practice) involves embracing the technology of the moment - which means bringing video games into the classroom.
Sara Corbett New York Times Magazine Sep 2010 30min Permalink
Movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed to connect with viewers, but video games on the topic have broken sales records.
Where crazy things seem normal and normal things seem crazy.
Chuck Klosterman Esquire Jul 2005 Permalink
A profile of Joe Biden, whose political stock has continued to rise even as his boss’s falls.
Mark Bowden The Atlantic Sep 2010 35min Permalink
A just-barred Pakistani-American attorney attempts to save a young family’s home from foreclosure and glimpses the contradiction-rich bureaucracy that has emerged in response to the housing crisis.
Wajahat Ali McSweeney's Mar 2010 40min Permalink
The rise and fall of a boom-era escort agency in New York City.
Mark Jacobson New York Jul 2005 35min Permalink
In 1992, Anthony Graves was arrested for brutally murdering a family in the middle of night. He had no motive. There was no physical evidence. The only witness recanted. And yet Graves remains behind bars.
Pamela Colloff Texas Monthly Apr 2011 55min Permalink
How a childhood gorilla-hunting safari and a string of sexless marriages led Alice Sheldon to become reclusive sci-fi legend James Tiptree Jr.
Alex Carnevale This Recording Sep 2010 20min Permalink
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, on the eve of the release of The Social Network, believed to be a deeply unflattering portrait of him and the genesis of his company.
Jose Antonio Vargas New Yorker Sep 2010 25min Permalink
“There is perhaps no other political-military elite in the world whose aspirations for great-power regional status, whose desire to overextend and outmatch itself with meager resources, so outstrips reality as that of Pakistan.”
Ahmed Rashid The National Interest Aug 2010 15min Permalink
Scenes from Madonna’s first major tour and an author struggling to explain the 26-year-old’s massive, surging appeal.
A profile of Jon Stewart, who’s now run The Daily Show for more than a decade.
Chris Smith New York Sep 2010 20min Permalink
A trip to interview former South Vietnamese premiere Ky on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam ends with government surveillance, partying, and confusion.
A series on the growing income inequality gap in America.
Timothy Noah Slate Sep 2010 Permalink
David Foster Wallace’s struggle to surpass “Infinite Jest.”
D.T. Max New Yorker Mar 2009 50min Permalink
A profile of Rahm Emanuel, written during his first congressional campaign in Illinois. Emanuel was running to fill the seat vacated by Rod Blagojevich.
Ben Joravsky Chicago Reader Feb 2002 20min Permalink
The author joins his father’s work crew, gutting out foreclosed houses in Florida and interviewing their former residents.
Paul Reyes Harper's Oct 2008 Permalink
A profile of Viktor Bout, believed to be the largest arms trafficker in the world. A Russian who bought his first cargo planes at age 25, Bout has been in the news recently after being arrested in Thailand.
Peter Landesman New York Times Magazine Aug 2003 30min Permalink
Our debt, conscious or unconscious, to what has come before, and what it can tell us about copyright, the public domain, and the complicated relationship between creators and consumers.
Jonathan Lethem Harper's Feb 2007 Permalink