The legacy of the Scopes trial on one Tennesse town.

Tereza Sedgwick trains to become a nurse aid, the fastest-growing job in America. It pays just better than minimum wage and has one of the highest burnout rates of any career.

For many, the answer from the state is “yes.” An investigation into what legally determines a person’s ability to parent.

Marion and Larry Pollard live in the suburbs. They have eight grandkids and a terrier named Bella. They can also expel demons and save your soul.

Thoughts on necks.

On Erzsébet Báthory, the first—and still most prolific—female serial killer.

A profile of Tiny Lister, the silver screen’s half-blind villain.

An eyewitness account of Robert Kennedy’s assassination.

Inmates work for hours each day and yet have no labor rights.

A father reflects on his son’s search for employment.

“But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed. What it costs, in truth. Not superficial costs—anybody can have that—I mean in truth. That’s what I write. What it really is like. I’m just telling a very simple story.”

The author walks to his hometown after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995.

What led to the death of a 5-year-old boy, “the Everychild in the state system.”

On the urge to live in a house you can't afford, the "acceptable lust" of American life.

On the decline of America.

An informational interview during which the author is advised, “Find a rich husband, and then you can work at whatever you like on the side, and it doesn’t matter, because you already have money.”

Parking garages, prisons, freeways and the world of stuff we’re not supposed to look at.

Pimp, brawler, Old Master.

Growing up with Charlie Brown.

Rich students complete their college degrees; working-class students usually don’t. How one school is trying to intervene.

A profile of Jill Abramson from her first weeks as executive editor of The New York Times.

An oral history.

The California Dream is made possible by old water and big water. Unfortunately, the former doesn’t care about us, and the latter’s running dry.

Taking a taxi across the Saudi desert.

Transporting an instrument after a death in the family.