A profile of Arianna Huffington.

A newly minted, 34-year-old White House budget director gets a little too candid with a reporter profiling him during Ronald Reagan’s first year in office. Among Stockman’s many admissions: “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.”

On Sam Cooke, theme parties, and the importance of McDonald’s-related jingles when street performing.

What has Ted Haggard, who left the New Life megachurch after admitting he purchased crystal meth and sexual favors from a male escort, been doing in the four years since? Selling insurance door to door and then… founding a new church and returning to the pulpit.

A primer on Peretz, longtime owner/editor of The New Republic, committed Zionist, and author of the line “Muslim life is cheap.”

A profile of Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News.

A profile of Jobs. The themes: immortality, relinquishing control, and how being adopted affected his choices for Apple. The lede: “One day, Steve Jobs is going to die.”

A profile of the Time Man of the Year for 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The transfiguration of Jared Loughner.

A profile of the director, written from the set of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

A reporter heads to Istanbul, where Iverson is playing minor league hoops in a 3,200-seat arena and hanging out at T.G.I. Friday’s.

A profile of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, written at the midpoint of his career.

A profile of director Sofia Coppola.

A profile of Winona Ryder.

A profile of Esquire features writer Chris Jones. Plus: the Jones archive on Longform.org.

A profile of video game artist Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind Super Mario Bros.

A profile of 12-year-old actress Elle Fanning, Dakota’s sister.

A profile of Yao Ming published during his second season in the NBA.

The profile that led to the Massey Energy CEO’s resignation.

“Why are you putting all that muddle in your brain that’s not needed to be there?”

An interview about why giving interviews is totally worthless.

A profile of Larry David, with a focus on his years as a struggling stand-up. “I was hoping that somehow I could get some kind of cult following and get by with that.”

A profile of Chicago soul great Syl Johnson.

A profile of April Bloomfield, chef at The Spotted Pig.

A profile of of Courtney Love.

A profile of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, published at the height of the controversy.