The Influencer

An entertainment mogul sets his sights on foreign policy.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: May 10, 2010
Length: 45 minutes (11,290 words)

Gareth Thomas … The Only Openly Gay Male Athlete

He’s 6’3″ and 225 pounds of muscle. He’s broken his nose five times, fractured both shoulders and lost eight teeth. He’s drunk his mates under the table and brawled by their side. He’s been named to the Welsh national rugby team more times than any other man. And, among active players in major professional team sports, he’s …”Wot, butt? You come to this tiny village in this tiny country and tell me that I’m the only gay man in a major team sport who’s out of the closet?” … “All the diversity in America, and no one there has done this?”

Author: Gary Smith
Published: May 3, 2010
Length: 21 minutes (5,468 words)

All the Obama 20-Somethings

A group of young White House staff members live together and (more or less) have their lives taped.

Published: Apr 29, 2010
Length: 21 minutes (5,468 words)

Subways are for sleeping

Published: Mar 1, 1956
Length: 21 minutes (5,468 words)

Ed Whitacre’s Battle to Save GM from Itself

Brought in by Obama’s car czar to help revive the automaker after bankruptcy, “Big Ed” fired CEO Fritz Henderson and took the wheel himself. GM’s sales are bouncing back, but Whitacre’s redesign is just beginning

Source: Businessweek
Published: Apr 29, 2010
Length: 15 minutes (3,902 words)

Laura Bush, a Lonely Texas Girl Far From Home

Laura Bush’s new memoir is really two books: an account of her youth in Texas, and a political autobiography.

Published: Apr 28, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,013 words)

The Glass Box And The Commonplace Book

Published: Apr 23, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,013 words)

The Kinktrepreneurs

Seattle’s Other Urban Craft Uprising

Author: Dan Savage
Source: The Stranger
Published: Apr 27, 2010
Length: 8 minutes (2,082 words)

Austerity

My wife earnestly instructs Chinese restaurants to deliver in cardboard cartons. My children are depressingly knowledgeable about climate change. Ours is an environmental family.

Author: Tony Judt
Published: May 13, 2010
Length: 6 minutes (1,711 words)

The Data-Driven Life

What happens when technology can analyze every quotidian thing that happened to you today.

Author: Gary Wolf
Published: Apr 28, 2010
Length: 22 minutes (5,748 words)