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Publications

Washingtonian

History

The Amazing Story of the Russian Defector Who Changed his Mind

To the KGB and back.

Jason Fagone Washingtonian Feb 2018 20min Permalink

Food

Spies, Dossiers, and the Insane Lengths Restaurants Go to Track and Influence Food Critics

Jessica Sidman Washingtonian Dec 2017 15min Permalink

Health

Jeni Stepanek’s Last Heartsong

A mom looks back on the “brief but wondrous experience” of raising her son Mattie, a little boy poet with a devastating rare disease who earned a following around the world.

Justin Heckert Washingtonian Jul 2017 25min Permalink

Media

Meet Matt Boyle, Breitbart’s (Other) Man in the White House

A profile of Steve Bannon’s 29-year-old protégé, the Washington bureau chief at Breitbart, who according to a former editor “has two modes: murder and blowjob.”

Luke Mullins Washingtonian May 2017 20min Permalink

The Billionaire and the Flood

How a tragedy transformed a small town in West Virginia.

Elaina Plott Washingtonian May 2017 20min Permalink

Best Article Crime Politics

The Strange, Spectacular Con of Bobby Charles Thompson

Donors all over America opened their wallets for his United States Navy Veterans Association. Politicians all over Washington posed for grip-and-grins with him. But not only was he not a legitimate fundraiser for military families—he wasn’t even Bobby Charles Thompson.

Daniel Fromson Washingtonian Mar 2017 25min Permalink

Business Food

The Battle of Raging Bitch

How a brewery became more famous for what’s on its bottle than what’s in it.

Amanda Whiting Washingtonian Jan 2017 15min Permalink

Politics

The Tumultuous Life and Lonely Death of Marion Barry’s Only Son

Chris Barry was born into Washington D.C. royalty. He died alone, essentially homeless, just a year after losing a race for his father’s former seat.

Harry Jaffe Washingtonian Jan 2017 20min Permalink

Health

I Was All Set to Become the Most Popular Guy in the Cancer Ward. Then I Met My Nemesis: Ben.

On chemo.

Luke Mullins Washingtonian Dec 2016 20min Permalink

Crime

The Gruesome November Night in One of Washington’s Wealthiest Suburbs

The story of a home invasion, a torture session, and one lawyer who nearly killed another.

Jason Fagone Washingtonian Oct 2016 25min Permalink

Crime Politics

How John Hinckley Lives Now

He drives a Toyota. He eats fro-yo. He takes care of two dozen feral cats.

Read more

Editor’s note, 7/27/16: Hinckley has won his freedom and will live full-time with his mother.

Eddie Dean Washingtonian May 2016 20min Permalink

Crime Religion

The Devastating Story of Washington’s Peeping-Tom Rabbi

Rabbi Barry Freundel said he would help dozens of women convert to Judaism. In the process, he secretly videotaped them naked.

Harry Jaffe Washingtonian Jan 2016 25min Permalink

Politics Media

Death and the All-American Boy

A profile of Joe Biden, written not long after the car crash that killed his wife and daughter.

Kitty Kelley Washingtonian Jun 1974 20min Permalink

The Seal Experience

If you’re falsely claiming to have once been a Navy SEAL, Don Shipley will expose you. And then he’ll put the video on YouTube.

Michael Gaynor Washingtonian Aug 2015 25min Permalink

Arts

Zane, the Queen of Erotica, Has a Secret

Although she is one of the richest writers in the country, her finances are a mess.

Laura Moser Washingtonian Jun 2015 25min Permalink

Crime Politics

The Suit Who Spooked the EPA

John Beale was an exemplary employee at the Environmental Protection Agency. He also led a double life, though not the rumored one at the CIA his colleagues whispered about.

Michael Gaynor Washingtonian Mar 2014 15min Permalink

History

The Insane Story of the Guy Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln

The man who killed John Wilkes Booth was a eunuch. By choice.

Bill Jensen Washingtonian Apr 2015 15min Permalink

Sports

The Troubled, Tormented, Surprisingly Lucky Life of Michael Graham

What happened to one of the most hated basketball players in NCAA history after playing a single season at Georgetown.

Alan Siegel Washingtonian Mar 2015 15min Permalink

Inside the Great Ice Cream Parlor War

Behind a $1,000 sundae were two very, very ill-suited business partners.

Emily Codik Washingtonian Feb 2015 20min Permalink

Science

The Town Without Wi-Fi

The residents of Green Bank, West Virginia, can’t use cell phones, wi-fi, or other modern technology due to a high-tech government telescope. Recently, this ban has made the town a magnet for so-called electrosensitives, and the locals aren’t thrilled to have them.

Michael J. Gaynor Washingtonian Jan 2015 15min Permalink

Business Politics Media

How David Gregory Lost His Job

The inside story, involving low ratings, new ownership, suspected leaks, and a mandate that Meet the Press “loosen up.”

Luke Mullins Washingtonian Dec 2014 25min Permalink

Sports

Can a Better Football Helmet Save Your Kid’s Brain?

The flawed data on safety equipment.

Patrick Hruby Washingtonian Dec 2014 20min Permalink

Reprints Science

Like Something the Lord Made

Vivien Thomas was paid a janitor’s wage, never went to college, and still became a legend in the field of heart surgery.

Katie McCabe Washingtonian Aug 1989 35min Permalink

Up, and Away

The author goes in search of his father’s days as a member of an elite club of sport parachutists.

Michael Graff Washingtonian Apr 2014 30min Permalink

Crime Politics Science

The Spectacular Unraveling of Washington’s Favorite Shrink

How a once-lauded psychiatrist became a prolific prescriber of painkillers in one of Virginia’s poorest and most isolated counties.

Ariel Sabar Washingtonian Jan 2014 20min Permalink

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