In 1967, Stanley Ann Dunham took her 6-year-old son, Barry, on an adventure to Indonesia. An excerpt from A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother.

An abridged history of violence in "America's first suburb."

Note: Elon Green is a contributing editor to Longform.

A profile of a breakout male porn star:

The porn machine churns out performers to satisfy every fantasy, be it MILF, dwarf, fat, granny, or gang bang. But if you’re interested in watching a young, heterosexual, nonrepulsive man engage in sex, James Deen is basically it.

An essay on craft, excerpted from Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities.

On Jack Idema, a con-man who once ran a pet hotel before reinventing himself as a black-ops secret agent in Afghanistan, and the history of counterinsurgency theory.

A reporter’s memories from a half-century of covering business.

Amazon, America’s most valuable retailer, is “conducting a little-known experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers, redrawing the boundaries of what is acceptable.”

Kidnapped by rebels when he was 9, Dominic Ongwen grew up to command fighters who slaughtered, raped, and pillaged. Is he guilty of heinous crimes or was he a hostage the whole time?

A profile of Paul Reubens and his subversive alter ego.

"When I was younger, someone took a knife to my clitoris and cut out a small but significant part of me. I blamed my mother. I despised her. I loved her."

A story of truth, lies, and an American addiction.

Reflections on two seasons of loss.

Between 1996 and 2015, the number of working-age adults receiving federal disability payments increased dramatically — but nowhere more so than in rural America. This is one man’s story.

A college student accused a powerful man of rape. Then she became a suspect.

The murder of Mickey Bryan stunned her small Texas town. Then her husband was charged with killing her. Did he do it, or had there been a terrible mistake?

More than fifteen years after he died, Fred Rogers has never been more revered—or more misunderstood.

Our economy is built on Americans of all class levels buying things. What happens when the ability—and desire—to do so goes away?

How a middle-class jock from a Texas border town became La Barbie, one of the most ruthless and feared cartel leaders in Mexico.

Armed with a handgun, a fake ID card and disguises, Miriam Rodríguez was a one-woman detective squad, attempting to catch her daughter’s murderers in the border town of San Fernando.

All of Janicza Bravo’s previous movies were playing in the place where humor and trauma meet. Zola was a natural fit.

A profile of the writer.

Plus: An excerpt from McCann's new novel, TransAtlantic. (via Longform Fiction)

How a high-stakes poker game that started at Tobey Maguire’s house became part of a $100 million gambling and money-laundering operation orchestrated by the Russian mob.

Rosario Crocetta is a reform-minded leader in a highly corrupt place that hates change. That’s only one of the reasons his life is in danger.

Time is speeding up. And to what end? Maybe we were told that two thousand years ago.

On the shortcomings of both reality and fiction.

A profile of California congressman Darrell Issa:

A few days after we met in Las Vegas, Issa called me. He was concerned about all my questions regarding his early life and didn’t see why they were newsworthy. The conversation was awkward.