The Mogul of the Middle
Friend goes inside the offices of STX Entertainment in Burbank, California, providing a revealing look at how movies are green lit, made and marketed in a foundering industry.
Bacteria on the Brain
A brilliant surgeon offered dying patients an experimental, untested treatment. Was his controversial approach life-saving innovation or an unethical overreach?
Teach Yourself Italian
Jhumpa Lahiri on language, transformation, and learning to write in Italian.
Unfollow
How social media changed the beliefs of a devout member of the Westboro Baptist Church, which pickets the funerals of gay men and of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Blood Ties
Two college lovers, and a murder in 1985.
Freedom From Fries
How fast food is evolving to satiate the appetites of consumers searching for healthy options.
My Writing Education: A Time Line
Why do our writing teachers have such a huge impact on us? George Saunders on early lessons learned.
Pond Scum
Kathryn Schulz takes down Henry David Thoreau: “It is true that Thoreau was an excellent naturalist and an eloquent and prescient voice for the preservation of wild places. But ‘Walden’ is less a cornerstone work of environmental literature than the original cabin porn: a fantasy about rustic life divorced from the reality of living in the woods, and, especially, a fantasy about escaping the entanglements and responsibilities of living among other people.”
Blank Space: What Kind of Genius Is Max Martin?
From “… Baby One More Time” to “Can’t Feel My Face,” meet the Swedish songwriter responsible for the biggest pop hits of the last 20 years.
A Daughter’s Death
After the murder of his daughter, a father sets out to find ways to stop the cycle of violence in his community.