The Audacity of Nope

With his perma-tan, two-pack-a-day baritone, and natty wardrobe, House Republican leader John Boehner is a backslapping, deal-making throwback to the G.O.P.’s past. But his recent “Hell, no!” anti-Obama strategy, as he seeks to ride the Tea Party wave, may point to an ugly future.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 26, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,220 words)

The Man Who Never Was

Desperate to keep his Senate seat, John McCain repudiated his record, his principles, and even his maverick reputation, entrenching himself as the anti-Obama. Which raises the issue of whether the leader so many Americans admired — and so many journalists covered — ever truly existed.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Nov 1, 2010
Length: 22 minutes (5,657 words)

The Blundering Herd

Excerpt: For nearly a century of solid profitability, Merrill Lynch was the company that turned millions of Americans into investors. But by the early 2000s, it had developed a raging case of Goldman Sachs envy.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Nov 1, 2010
Length: 27 minutes (6,839 words)

The Night Sinatra Happened

As 1940 approached, a skinny, big-eared Italian-American kid with a hotly seductive voice was aiming to topple Bing Crosby’s cool supremacy and turn American popular music on its head.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2010
Length: 38 minutes (9,706 words)

It Was Delicious While It Lasted

Gastronomes have been trekking to the remote Spanish cove where Ferran Adria has changed culinary history. Now, to evolve his restaurant, El Bulli, the man they call the world’s greatest chef is closing it forever.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2010
Length: 17 minutes (4,336 words)

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds

As Wall Street hangs on the question, “Will Greece default?”, the author heads for riot-stricken Athens, and for the mysterious Vatopaidi monastery, which brought down the last government, laying bare the country’s economic insanity.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2010
Length: 46 minutes (11,671 words)

With a Little Help From His Friends

At 19, Sean Parker helped create Napster. At 24, he was founding president of Facebook. At 30, he’s the hard-partying, press-shy genius of social networking, a budding billionaire, and about to be famous — played by Justin Timberlake in David Fincher’s new film, The Social Network.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,068 words)

Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury

Even as Sarah Palin’s public voice grows louder, she has become increasingly secretive, walling herself off from old friends and associates, and attempting to enforce silence from those around her.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2010
Length: 42 minutes (10,624 words)

Cassini Royale

By the time he died, in 2006, designer Oleg Cassini had seduced the top top girls of his day, from Grace Kelly to Marilyn Monroe to Anita Ekberg. But, for all Cassini’s success with women, the battle over his estate, between his daughter Tina and his last (and secret) wife, Marianne Nestor, suggests a chilling calculation behind the dashing image.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Sep 1, 2010
Length: 37 minutes (9,426 words)

Washington, We Have a Problem

How broken is Washington? Beyond repair? A day in the life of the president reveals that Barack Obama’s job would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Sep 1, 2010
Length: 41 minutes (10,466 words)