Guantánamo’s Darkest Secret
A friendship between a guard and an inmate highlights some of the most pernicious aspects of the world’s most infamous detention facility. The piece is a fine example of in depth reporting.
The Day the Dinosaurs Died
The premise of this piece is extraordinary – the discovery of “a precise geological transcript of the most important sixty minutes of Earth’s history” – that is to say the wave of destruction caused by the asteroid that hit sixty-six million years ago, an event that wiped out 99.9999% of all living organisms on the planet.
A Whale’s Afterlife
A story about “whale falls”, the marine biologist term for when a dead whale carcass falls to the seabed and becomes the basis for a rich ecosystem of life, some elements of which have only been observed in such circumstances.
Private Mossad for Hire
A profile of Psy-Group, the private intelligence agency with the slogan “Shape Reality”.
A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions
This story about a hit novelist’s complex web of fabrications has gone viral this week, unsurprisingly, as it offers readers an intoxicating combination of literary intrigue, society gossip, and schadenfreude.
Robert A. Caro on the Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives
One of the great biographers writes about his discovery process, writing, and his experience researching the subject of his magnum opus, President Lyndon B. Johnson. Unsurprisingly, it’s a mesmerisingly well-told story.
The Philosopher Redefining Equality
A study of the philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, and the theory she has “elaborated across decades”. The theory, in its essence, is that “equality is the basis for a free society”.
Queen of Crime
A look at the life and work of Agatha Christie, a woman who can lay good claim to being the most widely read novelist in history.
The Real Heroes Are Dead
Seventeen years after 9/11, this fine piece of writing has lost none of its heartrending impact. The terrible context of the piece ties a knot in the reader’s stomach as they make their way through a love story, then war stories, to the narrative’s inevitable conclusion.