The plight of the uninsured in a red state.

The unsolved mystery of the soldier who died in the watchtower.

A profile of law professor Dan Kahan, “one of the best-known unknown academics in the country,” who wants to close the communication gap between scientists and the public.

Three decades ago, Mohamed Siad Barre, commander of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, head of the politburo of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party and the last ruler of a functional Somali state, built vast concrete buildings all over Mogadishu. The beautiful city on the coast of the Indian Ocean, with its Arabic and Indian architecture, winding alleyways and Italian colonial-era villas, was dominated by these monuments. They were Third World incarnations of Soviet architecture, exuding power, stability and strength. The buildings – like the literacy campaigns, massive public works programmes and a long war against neighbouring Ethiopia in the late 1970s and early 1980s – were supposed to reflect the wisdom and authority of the dictator.

The longtime editor of the London Review of Books on editing, the “fussed” people on Twitter, and “preferential treament” for women.

Inside Rebecca West’s vast Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, an eerily timeless travelogue of the Balkans written on the eve of WWI.

Taibbi on the Tea Party. “After lengthy study of the phenomenon, I’ve concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They’re full of shit.”

A murder involving one of the India’s celebrity couples has mesmerized the country and exposed some of its darkest fears.

The lingering psychological effects of being one of the greatest crime reporters of all time.

A working definition of ‘net neutrality’, a bestiary of the major players, and why the issue isn’t a cut and dry case of good vs. evil.

The mysterious death of Alfred Wright in the shadow of a town’s history of racial violence.

The barbaric brutalization of Abner Louima and the tragic fate of a handful of flawed Brooklyn cops.

More than 15% of Detroit’s adults have asthma, and 82% of black students go to schools in the most polluted parts of the city.

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

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

A friendship born out of the ruins of a nation, a dangerous journey home, and a 40-year search for the truth.

In Sinaloa, Mexico, women recover the bodies of missing loved ones—and cook to keep their memories of the dead alive.

A profile of Afghanistan’s outgoing president.

A profile of Mitch Landrieu, the first white mayor of New Orleans in nearly 30 years–part of a larger post-Katrina trend in the city’s politics. “The elected leadership looks almost like a photo negative of the pre-Katrina government.”

How Rupert Murdoch’s empire of influence remade the world.

On the grifter who made a living forging the signatures of American heroes.

The inside story of the Affordable Care Act.

One man’s stories from the early days of the NBA.

American history begs the question: Can immigrants possibly inherit the mythology of the U.S.?