If you walk into New York’s best restaurants without a reservation, what does it take to get a table?

David Chang’s manic quest for a flawless restaurant.

An essay on waiting tables.

An interview with Alan Stillman, who in 1965 founded T.G.I. Friday’s, the first singles bar in America.

Mysterious, man-made “natural flavor” explains why most fast food—indeed, most of the food Americans eat—tastes the way it does. An early excerpt from Fast Food Nation.

A minute-by-minute account of what it takes to run a restaurant.

America’s underground Chinese restaurant workers.

The creator of the California-based food chain kills his mother, sister and, finally, himself.

On heading home for Thanksgiving.

A comatose Worcester girl is the catalyst for a string of miracles and becomes a tourist attraction.

What really happened at the World Trade Organization protests.

Cardinal Bernard Law knew as early as 1984 John Geoghan was molesting children. The priest would not be defrocked for 14 years.

The jury made a mistake when it convicted Abdul Raheem.

What’s a suburban soccer mom who was once fervently anti-drug doing running a business growing and selling pot?

Naffe, a young Republican, entered the belly of the political beast—and was nearly eaten.

On being gay in the military, three years before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Meet Faygele ben Miriam (formerly John Singer), the radical activist “beyond the leading edge” of the same-sex marriage fight.

A conservative case for gay marriage.

In 1920, Harvard University officials suspected that some students were gay. So they kicked them all out.

The activists, politicians, and social trends that led to 2012’s gay marriage victories.

As tens of thousands come out of the closet, gay political activism heats up.

A profile of Maggie Gallagher, founder of National Organization for Marriage.

Erwynn Umali, Will Behrens, and the first gay wedding on a military base.