The Immortal Horizon
The story of the 100-mile Barkley Marathons.
“What makes it so bad? No trail, for one. A cumulative elevation gain that’s nearly twice the height of Everest.”
The Believer
"I Refuse to Cater to the Bullshit of Innocence"
An interview with Maurice Sendak.
Location, Location, Location
A personal history of house moving.
"You Become Confident That You Have the Answer."
An interview with Joan Didion.
Whirl
For 60 years, the weekly Evening Whirl attacked the drug lords, whoring preachers, and hypocritical bourgeoisie of St. Louis’ black community, sometimes in rhyming Iambic couplets.
Encounter with the Infinite
How a minimally trained, isolated man named Srinivasa Ramanujan figured out some of mathematics’ deepest theoretical problems using little more than an out-of-date elementary school textbook.
Leaving the Witness
A lifelong Jehovah’s Witness moves to China to proselytize.
Dogsbody Does Dublin
Four dispatches from the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday.
In most places in the world, June 16 is just another day on the calendar, but here in Dublin, the day that James Joyce earmarked for Ulysses is celebrated with a fervor not seen here since the days of the druids when, if you really wanted to party, you needed a couple skeins of wine and a grove full of virgins.
Toward a Pathology of the Possessed
How we talk about—and live with—schizophrenia.
Destroy All Monsters
A Wisconsin basement gave birth to one of the most influential narratives of our times – Dungeons and Dragons – sending its creator, E. Gary Gygax, on a strange and perilous journey of his own.
Encounter With the Infinite
In search of Ramanujan in India.
Anarchy in the USA
Meet John Zerzan, arguably the most influential anarchist in America.
"The System of TV Is Creaking Under Its Own Weight Right Now"
An interview with Michael Schur, who wrote for Saturday Night Live and The Office before co-creating Parks and Recreation and Brookyn Nine-Nine.
Satan in Poughkeepsie
In 1966, Anton LaVey introduced the world to the Church of Satan. The 1980s saw a “Satanic Panic” in the form of abuse charges brought against child-care workers and suburban parents. Today, the author joins a group of Satanists for afternoon tea at the church’s global headquarters in a “bland New York college town.”
The Divine Inspiration of Jim Jones
The black messianic leader, known as Father Divine, that Jim Jones admired.
The Glass Eye
A daughter remembers her father’s glass eye.
The Divine Inspiration of Jim Jones
The rise of the Peoples Temple through the lens of an earlier group: Father Divine’s Peace Mission.
Mithradates of Fond du Lac
A weekend with the only person on Earth who can survive five venomous snakebites in 48 hours.
You'll Never Write About Me Again
A journalist and documentarian charts over a decade of her relationship with Philip Roth.
No Man’s Land
Fear, racism, and the historically troubling attitude of American pioneers.
A River Runs Through It
A biography of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios.
“So the stakes are high. I’m not just writing this to write. I’m writing because I think there’s something I need to say.” — Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah on the Longform Podcast
The Secret Handshake
The short-lived literary career of Breece DʼJ Pancake and his roadmap to a world of oppressive poverty.
Haterade
Don’t read the comments.
Without You I’m Nothing
The memories of rock stars’ ex-lovers.
“Almost Never Have I Been Considered Funny.”
An interview with Peter Matthiessen.
