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

Behind the tabloid story of the “murder orphan” in Queens.

On the reality TV empire of Thom Beers, creator of Deadliest Catch.

On the culture of misogyny and abuse at one of the nation’s largest megachurches.

Why a type of gasoline may be responsible for periods of increased crime in the U.S. and abroad.

A case of mistaken identity and the incarceration of an innocent man.

The story of 15-year-old Audrie Pott, who took her own life after nude photos of her were circulated at school.

A self-published author of pick-up guides visits the “pacifist nanny state” of Denmark and finds the social safety interferes with his seduction strategies.

Exploring the vast underground world of New York City with three of the people who know it best.

Rethinking Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.

A tale of ambition, motherhood and political mythmaking in the race for governor of Texas.

On Baylor’s freshman basketball star Perry Jones and how the new era of one-season careers has changed the landscape of college basketball.

A profile of Christopher Brosius, the “Willy Wonka of fragrances,” whose latest creation is designed to not be smelled.

A study of the Mississippi River, its history, and efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to hold it in place.

A profile of Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek.

On the battle between Shaquille O’Neal and his former IT guy, who’s in control of much of O’Neal’s archived (and often damning) correspondence.

A profile of Jill Abramson from her first weeks as executive editor of The New York Times.

A holiday tradition in the Netherlands involving blackface has sparked a debate about race, the legacy of slavery, and the vestiges of colonialism.

The rise and murderous fall of the Harkey family, the scions of a pecan dynasty.

David Simon and Richard Price, two of the greatest crime storytellers of our time, talk about their craft.

After decades of failed revitalization strategies, a town of 10,000 tries another.

The dissolution of Brooklyn softcore skin-mag Jacques and the marriage of the couple that created it.

A story of endurance in the face of unimaginably brutal conditions.

The night when Terry Thompson let his zoo-worthy collection of big animals, including lions and a bear, into the wilds of Zanesville, Ohio before shooting himself in the head.