In anonymous warehouses in Detroit, Goldman Sachs has hoarded a quarter of the world’s supply of aluminum, placing them firmly in control of trading on the London Metal Exchange.

In the 1980s, Billy Ray Bates, once dubbed “the Legend,” drank himself out of the NBA and ended up playing in the Philippines. For a few wild years, his legend grew—both on the court and in the bars.

Working from a tiny shop in Chinatown, Sister Ping brought in thousands of Chinese immigrants by boat, bringing in over $40 million. Then one of her ships ran aground.

In the 1980s some of the world’s most powerful institutions were taken in by stories, begun in Victoria B.C., of a global Satanic underground abducting and abusing thousands of children.

A visit to a Maine museum devoted to Bigfoot and other mythical creatures.

A profile of Larry Garrison, the man who “gets paid to bring tabloid stories to TV news programs.”

On the Balkan musical genre Turbo-Folk, its ties to Serbian ultranationalism, and the strongman nightclub owner who brought it to Croatia.

A newspaper writer’s attempt to solve the mystery of a homeless man who claims to be a once-famous boxer.

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

A trip to Nashville to interview the writer Ann Patchett.

The article that kept the New Yorker alive was written by a debutante. Who happened to be married to Irving Berlin.

When it comes to representing pharmaceutical companies, a doctor’s medical record is far less important than his or her ability to sell.

Where the actual online money is centralized, and where Google will have to go to continue chasing it.

At 33, Wendy Brown stole her daughter’s name, grabbed a pair of pom-poms, and went back to high school. Then she went to jail.

With your mom.

For years he used fake identities to charm women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then his victims banded together to take him down.

On the cusp of delivery, a mother-to-be recounts the anxiety-laden path to parenthood.

On Bob Woodward’s “rather eerie aversion to engaging the ramifications of what people say to him.”

Why did it take so long for the systems that are supposed to police problem doctors to stop him from operating?

The fossil-fuel companies expect to profit from climate change. I went to a private planning meeting and took notes.

The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police.

What happened when 59-year-old Paralympian Angela Madsen set out to row from California to Hawaii.

As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.

For some workers, the pandemic brought new meaning to a nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage.