For 18 months, Coatesville, Penn., was besieged with an improbable number of arsons.  But who started the fires – and why?

A profile of filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar during the 2004 Cannes International Film Festival.

“Radically brilliant. Absurdly ahead of its time. Ridiculously poorly planned.” An oral history of the National Sports Daily.

A profile of Jaron Lanier, virtual reality pioneer and the author of You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto.

A profile of Ken Robinson, who earned minor fame and more than a few enemies for the controversial way he “bought” his house:

The week after Robinson moved into the tan-sided home with a faux stone entrance and maroon shutters, he was soaring, an Internet hero a few levels shy of Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who last summer cracked a beer and left work on a plane's emergency slide. For $16, Robinson had filed paperwork with Denton County staking his claim to the abandoned home through an obscure Texas law called adverse possession. Ever since, curious visitors, beginner real estate investors and people who want an ultra-cheap home to fulfill their version of the American Dream have been knocking on his door for advice and a handshake.

How an Italian thug looted MGM, brought Credit Lyonnais to its knees, and made the Pope cry.

On H.H. Holmes “an old hand at corpse manipulation and insurance fraud,” who built a house of death in 1890s Chicago.

Inside carpenter brothers Ryan and Dylan, and their stripper sister Lee-Grace Dougherty’s eight-day, fifteen-state, AK-47-wielding crime spree.

On Manoj Bhargava, who says he’s “probably the wealthiest Indian in America,” and his ubiquitous product.

Virginia authorities possess DNA evidence that may exonerate dozens of  convicted men. Why won’t the state say who they are?

A decorated Iraq war veteran with PTSD kills his brother and himself after a high-speed chase near the Grand Canyon.

Lessons learned about Washington from investigating how the “grand bargain” fell apart.

On L.A.’s Homeboy Industries, which offers former felons—including at least one disgraced CEO—the chance to work.

Margaret Profet, evolutionary biologist and MacArthur grant recipient, disappeared in 2005. She has neither been seen nor heard from since.

A profile of former Bosnia Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, whose war crimes trial began, and was abruptly suspended, this week.

A trip to Disneyland in the mid-1960s.

Previously posted on Longform.org on January 25th, 2012.

The international battle over 17 tons of coins discovered by an American deep-sea treasure hunting company.

What would drive a man to stand outside the Vatican embassy nearly every day for 14 years?

“Richard Williams raised her to go to war with the world. Post-tennis, she plans to live in it.”

Afghans have long visited falbin to have their futures foretold. Fundamentalist Muslim clerics hope to stop that.

How one woman’s sexual assault by four University of Oregon football players in 1980 unwittingly led to the state’s expansive free speech protections.

Michael Phelps returns to his Olympic training after a 45-day stint at The Meadows.

Looking back on the making of Sam, Bill, and Neal.

How a tiny island 5,000 miles from the U.S. mainland has produced so many NFL players.

What happened after the first openly gay player in Division I men’s basketball came out.