All The Best Victims

The shocking thing about Kenneth Starr’s alleged Ponzi scheme wasn’t the amount—$59 million, pocket change by Madoff standards—but his client list. How did an accountant from the Bronx pull in the likes of Bunny Mellon, Barbara Walters, Al Pacino, Caroline Kennedy, and Matt Lauer?

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Aug 1, 2010
Length: 31 minutes (7,880 words)

A Girls’ Guide to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia! Just the vacation spot for a headstrong, adventure-loving, cocktail-imbibing, fashion-conscious chick. Long averse to non-Muslim curiosity seekers, the Kingdom is now flirting with tourism, though drinking is forbidden and women can’t drive—or do much of anything—without a man. Armed with moxie and a Burqini, the author confronts the limits of Saudi Arabian hospitality, as well as various male enforcers, learning that, as always, it matters whom you know.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Aug 1, 2010
Length: 25 minutes (6,462 words)

Cary in the Sky with Diamonds

Before Timothy Leary and the Beatles, LSD was largely unknown and unregulated. But in the 1950s, as many as 100 Hollywood luminaries—Cary Grant and Esther Williams among them—began taking the drug as part of psychotherapy. With LSD research beginning a comeback, the authors recount how two Beverly Hills doctors promoted a new “wonder drug,” at $100 a session, profoundly altering the lives of their glamorous patients, Balaban included.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Aug 1, 2010
Length: 24 minutes (6,002 words)

The “Thriller” Diaries

Michael Jackson’s 1983 “Thriller” remains the most popular music video of all time: a 14-minute horror spoof that changed the business.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 1, 2010
Length: 28 minutes (7,088 words)

A Love Too Big To Last

Theirs was the most epic love story in Hollywood history: a blaze of headlines, booze, jewels, brawls, and private jets. Marrying and divorcing twice, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton rocked the culture and each other’s lives.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 1, 2010
Length: 38 minutes (9,574 words)

Something About Sally

Sally Quinn hit the nation’s capital in 1969, becoming one of The Washington Post’s most glamorous stars; sweeping Ben Bradlee, its legendary (and married) editor, off his feet; conquering Georgetown society—and making serious enemies along the way.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 1, 2010
Length: 23 minutes (5,933 words)

Strange Love

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Sep 1, 1992
Length: 26 minutes (6,546 words)

When Washington Took On Wall Street

Nearly 80 years ago, on Capitol Hill, Ferdinand Pecora forced J. P. Morgan Jr. and other “banksters” to reveal the corruption that had fueled the Great Depression—bringing shame on the financial industry and resulting in new laws to curb abuses. The author looks back at the Pecora Commission hearings, and asks why there is no comparable investigation now.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 19 minutes (4,872 words)

The White House’s Dinner Theater

A White House state dinner can serve as diplomatic overture, fund-raising tool, or cultural statement. As Obama social secretary Desirée Rogers discovered, it can also be a P.R. fiasco.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 36 minutes (9,041 words)

The Man Who Tried To Manage Murdoch

As Rupert Murdoch’s jaws closed around The Wall Street Journal, managing editor Marcus Brauchli became the latest in a long line of editors who thought they could win over the conquering mogul.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 29 minutes (7,498 words)