Longreads

That winter's day in the park, although we weren't to know it, was to be the last time I ever played football with my son. The memorable two-a-side match featured Peter and his cousin, with…

Many decades ago, I spent what seemed like a great deal of time under a scorching sun, watching groups of sweaty soldiers as they solved a problem. I was doing my national service in the…

Six men, locked in a capsule on a simulated mission to Mars. Here's what 520 days in isolation does to the body and mind.Photo: Corbis, NASA To crack the mysteries of…

A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest. The Al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head, froze; he was unarmed. “There was never any question of detaining or capturing him—it wasn’t a split-second decision. No one wanted detainees,” the special-operations officer told me. (The Administration maintains that had bin Laden immediately surrendered he could have been taken alive.) Nine years, seven months, and twenty days after September 11th, an American was a trigger pull from ending bin Laden’s life. #Sept11