The story of Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who walked off his base in Afghanistan only to be captured by the Taliban.

How the former Bush advisor is “reengineering the practice of partisan money management in hopes of drumming Barack Obama out of the White House.”

A survey of sex on a Saturday night in New York City.

A profile of “not just the toughest but the most corrupt and abusive sheriff in America.”

How Indians with the surname Patel came to own 1/3 of the motels in America.

In 1916, a down-on-its-luck traveling circus hung its star elephant.

The importance of the sports metaphor in the American consciousness and why Lewis Lapham didn’t join the C.I.A.

Alex Haley interviews the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s number two - Malcolm X - in a Harlem restaurant.

Inside the C Street house in Washington and the little-known spiritual group behind it.

The author joins his father’s work crew, gutting out foreclosed houses in Florida and interviewing their former residents.

A trip to the Russian baths helps author start to see the good in his terrible eyesight.

In the last decade, newsrooms across the country have adopted a “do more with less” strategy. It’s a kamikaze mission.

Pitching a no-hitter in the middle of a multi-day acid bender was only one of Dock Ellis’ many amazing exploits.

The story of two Canadian artificial intelligence visionaries who became bitter rivals and then both committed suicide in the same month.

How an aging trio of Irish ‘travelers’ criss-crossed America in a mobile home conning Home Depot out of over $1 million.

In the feral communities of Russia’s Far East, tiger poaching is among the few lucrative pursuits. This is the story of a tiger who fought back.

In Detroit, the aftermath of a reality-TV SWAT raid that killed a sleeping seven-year-old.

A report from Minnesota’s Angle Township, which was put in the U.S. instead of Canada by a map-maker’s error.

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

On Huck Finn, the book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, and the evolution of language and race in America.

A look at what it takes to protect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he’s in New York City.

A profile of Republican Eric Cantor: six-term congressman, new House majority leader, highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history.

SNL in its grim twentieth season through the lens of first (and only) year cast-member Janeane Garofalo.

“By the time we got to Woodstock 99 …” In a grim finale, the nineties get their Altamont.