The story behind the iconic photograph of the Holmes family, hiding in the water amidst violent Tasmanian bushfires.

A trip to a pepper-eating contest in remote India.

Why hundreds of Buddhist monks moved from Taiwan to Prince Edward Island, buying up thousands of acres of land in the process.

After two tours in Iraq, the writer returns to a volatile region of Afghanistan as an embedded journalist.

How to buy college football players, in the words of a man who delivers the money.

How CREW and MUSTIE decide what books stay in a library's circulation.

A portrait of Ben Todd, a DIY champion of the emerging music scene in Nashville.

A profile of Ken Regan, a computer scientist, chess master, and world champion at detecting cheaters in chess.

How the feds went after Thick Neck, Guilty, Stomper, Gunner, Lucky, Menace, and the rest of the Amernian mob in Los Angeles.

A 2011 profile of LeBron James, originally meant to run in Port, that was killed by Nike.

The CEO is 32. The CFO is 28. Their startup is the second-largest burger chain in the country.

On the anger that led to the Watts Riots of 1965, the mistakes made during those six days in August, and how little changed afterward.

On the highly enjoyable, nearly fatal first experiments with laughing gas in late 18th-century London.

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

Sexism and harassment in the freethought community and its implications for atheism’s future.

Posing for family survival in a society that values boys over girls.

On the seminal songwriter, who died four years ago today, in his final days before succumbing to dipsomania.

How a doctor and an S.A.C. trader got entangled in a financial scandal.

A profile of Griselda Blanco, aka the “Black Widow,” who pioneered the cocaine trade in New York and Miami.

A torrid phone sex affair begins with a random call in a motel and ends a year later with a face-to-face meeting.

Frank Firetti, a 54-year-old pool salesman in Virginia, and his fading American dream.

Each year, thousands of people pay to play eighteen holes of golf at Angola, “the largest maximum-security prison in the country.”

The rise of One Direction fanfiction that imagines the band members in relationships – with each other.

Why is an anti-virus software giant in the Belizean jungle surrounded by  gang members?

Profiles of people who live in their car after losing almost everything during the Great Recession.