A Texas border town fails to keep up.

In 1981, Mauritania became the last country on Earth to abolish slavery. The law had little effect; at least 140,000 people are still enslaved today. Their best hope for freedom is an abolitoinist named Biram Dah Abeid.

On Lucinda Williams and her “love affair with loss.”

How Cassandro, who wrestles in drag, became a star Mexican luchadore.

On Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the duo behind Broad City.

In 1984, Jacqui met Bob Lambert at an animal-rights protest. They fell in love, had a son. Then Bob disappeared. It would take 25 years for Jacqui to learn that he had been working undercover.

On Johnny Carson, a cold man in a hot seat.

“What transpired in the streets appeared to be a kind of municipal version of shock and awe.”

On the private, for-profit probation industry.

What U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul has seen in Russia since he arrived two and a half years ago.

How an honors student became a hired killer.

Has a remote Amazonian tribe upended our understanding of language?

A chance encounter with a movie star on an airplane.

When a child has a condition that’s new to science.

Why Parks Middle School decided to cheat.

A profile of Novak Djokovic.

In the bayou south of New Orleans, a program called the Nurse-Family Partnership tries to reverse the life chances for babies born into extreme poverty. Sometimes, it actually succeeds.

How Brian Eno works.

What the gospel of innovation gets wrong.

Kids consider changing their personalities and relationships.

Can neuroscience take the pain out of painful memories?

The author remembers his stepfather, E.B. White.

How the Newtown Bee covered Sandy Hook.

On Edward St. Aubyn’s autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels.

How an anti-government militia grew on a U.S. Army base.