The “naked technological realities” of America’s heartland and how they power a “cosy coastal world of pretend farmers’ markets and happy cows.”

An interview with Murphy at the apex of his power, just before the release of Harlem Nights.

How a former member of Jesus People USA exposed its history of sexual abuse.

How the next generation of Indian women could break the country’s cycle of early motherhood and forced marriage.

How a man of little education and little means invented a simple machine that changed the lives of women in rural India.

On tragedy, mythology, and the spectacular crash of the Spider-Man musical and its creator, Julie Taymor.

At work with Jean-Claude Carrière, screenwriter of choice for an entire generation of top-flight directors.

On the culture of plastic surgery in Los Angeles, and how the reporter’s life changed when she got a pair of fake boobs.

Three primary reasons: A desire for vengeance, the sanitization of executions and, ironically, the reliability of DNA evidence.

The story of Standard Motor Products, a 92-year-old family-run auto parts manufacturer, and the transformation of the U.S. manufacturing industry.

A profile of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was sentenced to 50 years today after being convicted of committing crimes against humanity.

The story of Christopher and Jeffrey George, the twin proprietors of a pain clinic empire.

The highest-ranking CIA officer to be convicted of spying passes the tricks of the trade along to his son.

The life of Reverend Charles Moore, who died by self-immolation in the parking lot of a Texas strip mall.

On Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik and the rise of Islamophobia in Norway.

The short-lived literary career of Breece DʼJ Pancake and his roadmap to a world of oppressive poverty.

He was one of Israel’s greatest spies. Then he brought his own country to the brink of war.

The story of how federal authorities blew the biggest anti-terror investigation of the past decade—the post-9/11 anthrax attacks—and nearly destroyed an innocent man.

The island of Coiba off the coast of Panama is both a nature preserve and an open-air prison.

[Part 2 of 2] The story behind this spring’s spate of retributive murders in Southwest D.C.

An hour-by-hour account of the explosion and rescue effort on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

A manifesto from one of the first professional bloggers on a new ‘golden age of journalism.’

Most of the country is trying to keep guns out of schools. A town in rural Idaho is taking the opposite approach.

The story of two weeks when the most wanted man in the world was hidden in the depths of a Hong Kong slum.