A kidnapping deemed a hoax, the newbie detective who cracked the case, and the Harvard-trained lawyer whose mental unraveling set the whole story in motion.
The Atavist Magazine
Posted inNonfiction
‘Raphael Couldn’t Have Painted Something More Beautiful’
The couple who saved an imprisoned artist’s life — and the extraordinary gift he gave in return.
Posted inNonfiction
Perilous Passage
The true story of a Ukrainian father and son who became the first — and only — Soviet defectors to seek freedom in the West by crossing the icy Bering Strait.
Posted inNonfiction
My Grandmother’s Dark Secret
The music emanating from a storefront church in Brooklyn was a death knell: Once my grandmother heard it, her childhood was over.
Posted inStory
The Easter Island Schoolteacher Who Sparked a Revolution
The remarkable story of a freedom struggle on a tiny island in the South Pacific.
Posted inStory
Los Desaparecidos
Women in Sinaloa, Mexico, are searching for the remains of “disappeared” loved ones — and cooking to keep their memories of the dead alive.
Posted inReading List
Impersonation Nation: A Very Scammy Reading List
Five stories that demonstrate we’re living in the golden age of the personal hoax.
Posted inNonfiction
The Strange True Tale of ‘Castro’s No. 1 Killer’
Herman Marks, a drifter from Milwaukee, took a boat to Cuba with nothing but a Colt .45 revolver and $400 in cash. His plan? To join the revolution.