Squeamish though they might be about God, even the totally irreligious can find some comfort in praying.

Typee, the most popular book Melville published in his lifetime, was his memoir of Polynesia. Most of it was probably made up.

A weekend with the only person on Earth who can survive five venomous snakebites in 48 hours.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the best snooker player in the world. He’s also the most tormented.

Joseph Mitchell used composites in his non-fiction, invented characters and added flourishes to his facts. Does it matter?

Kidnappers in Mexico have changed their business model from retail to wholesale—instead of extorting a handful of rich families, they are targeting thousands of undocumented migrants.

The last all-male clubs in Britain are contemplating admitting women. But a significant proportion of their members still want to preserve the spaces as male-only.

Worried about being kidnapped while on a business trip? A man in Florida teaches courses on how to avoid it.

One man’s quest to witness the “Bison Cull” in Yellowstone National Park.

How a high-powered lawyer and a rough-edged private detective ended up at the center of the biggest, dirtiest scandal in Hollywood history.

The life and death of Marla Ruzicka, a 28-year-old aid worker in Baghdad.

Ethnicity and primary education in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Part of Guernica’s ‘Writer’s Bloc’ series.

On a young Arnold Schwarzenegger and the body-building culture of Venice Beach in the 1970s.

A profile of the Mexican newsweekly, a “lone voice” in reporting on the narcos.

How a group of men with nicknames like “Emperor” and “Spear Carrier” tipped the balance in South Sudan’s fight for independence.

The rise and fall of Bernard von NotHaus, the creator of the most successful (and some say illegal) alternative currency in the U.S.

The inside story of how an ABC nature shoot in Africa end up producing  a snuff film.

Hipsters vs. Hasids in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A skirmish over a bike lane becomes a battle for a neighborhood.

David Petraeus, father of the surge and the uncontested “most competitive” man in the military.

Both the Chinese government and private matchmakers are laboring to unite people who lost spouses and children in the earthquake.

In the wake of 9/11, terrorist networks moved their recruitment and training efforts online, giving birth to Jihad-geeks like Irhabi_007.

In post-Shock and Awe Baghdad, the relationship between a war reporter and his Iraqi guide falls apart.

An interview with cinematographer Harris Savides on the enduring appeal of the visual style of films shot in the 1970s.

The bloody, often surreal, fight for Kosovo’s independence was led by a man moonlighting as a roofer in Switzerland.