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Jim Gilliam was a precocious young conservative Christian who grew up in Silicon Valley and became a talented programmer. After fighting cancer, he lost his faith in God and found a passion for progressive causes. NationBuilder, a piece of software he built to—in his own words—help “democratize democracy,” has had some of his progressive friends […]

An excerpt from Bilton’s new book, Hatching Twitter: The untold story of Twitter’s true origins—and the contributions of Noah Glass, the co-founder who disappeared from the picture: “What Glass didn’t know was that Dorsey was the one who wanted him out. Perhaps it was because he sensed vulnerability or perhaps it was because Glass was […]

On jogging, recovery and cemeteries: “The body is determined to let the mind know when enough is enough. And it doesn’t give up easily. The blister was followed by neck and back pain. Eczema began to stain my legs and a mysterious cold moved through my body, from head to chest to lungs and back. […]

The renowned literary agent on his hatred of Amazon, commercial fiction, and the future of book publishing: “I didn’t think that [in 2010] the publishing community had properly assessed—particularly in regard to its obligations to writers—what an equitable arrangement would look like. “And I felt that publishers had made a huge mistake, because they were […]

An excerpt adapted from League of Denial, about the National Football League’s long denial about the connection between football and brain damage: “Nine months later came yet another NFL study in Neurosurgery. This one dealt with repeat concussions. Numerous previous studies had shown that one concussion left the brain vulnerable to another concussion if the […]

David Byrne on whether New York City can hold onto its creative class: “This city doesn’t make things anymore. Creativity, of all kinds, is the resource we have to draw on as a city and a country in order to survive. In the recent past, before the 2008 crash, the best and the brightest were […]

By many definitions, solitary confinement is torture—despite being widely embraced in America’s prisons: “Take Gabriel Reyes, one of the class action plaintiffs, who was originally convicted of housebreaking and sentenced under California’s draconian three strikes law. He was thrown into solitary 17 years ago, based on the mere fact that he was seen exercising with […]

From the book Russell Atkins: On the Life and Work of an American Master: A revered poet is found in an apartment in Cleveland: “Mr. Atkins is nearing 90. He can’t walk easily anymore and is sometimes attended to by a young, businesslike, very quiet nurse. He is thin and small, with a swirl of […]

A secretly recorded video of a monk having sex with a woman rocks a Cambodian community in Lowell, Mass. — just as plans for a $10 million temple to be built went underway to “help unite an immigrant community with a history of ugly feuding”: “Meas would later tell me that his interest in the […]

The Supreme Court justice on his legacy, gay rights, his belief in the Devil, and the TV show “Duck Dynasty”: “Maybe the world is spinning toward a wider acceptance of homosexual rights, and here’s Scalia, standing athwart it. At least standing athwart it as a constitutional entitlement. But I have never been custodian of my […]