Libor scandal: the bankers who fixed the world’s most important number
A look deep inside the Libor scandal that reads like a Hollywood clich of corporate malfeasance.
Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart
This extraordinary piece, spanning the Iraq War right up to the present day, takes up an entire issue of New York Times magazine and is the result of 18 months of reporting.
Federalist 10
James Madison, 4th President of the United States, wrote this essay on how to mitigate the “mischiefs of faction” in government in 1787. He noted the need to find balance – “In the first place, it is to be remarked that, however small the republic may be, the representatives must be raised to a certain number, in order to guard against the cabals of a few; and that, however large it may be, they must be limited to a certain number, in order to guard against the confusion of a multitude.” http://www.bit.ly/yale-madison
The Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People
A look at one of the toughest jobs in the business – content moderation at Facebook. It is area where the company has been forced to ramp up their team due to a string of crises and bad publicity. The piece does well at providing a sense of the scale, difficulty and sheer oddness of the task – which, for example, now involves the company having a specific policy on things like what variety of photos of anuses photoshopped onto celebrities should be acceptable.
The Fast and Furious Michael Avenatti
A profile of Stormy DanielsÕ lawyer, who is leading the charge in her lawsuit against Donald Trump on three fronts_Ñ_in the court room, on social media and on the talk shows. As his client puts it_Ñ_Òevery time I watch him work, I think, This is what it must have been like to see the Sistine Chapel being painted. But instead of paint, Michael uses the tears of his enemies.Ó http://bit.ly/nyt-avenatti
How Tom Wolfe Became Tom Wolfe
The celebrated writer Tom Wolfe died on Monday. Michael Lewis’s 2015 profile went deep into his biography and his writing to tell his story.
The Afterlife of Pablo Escobar
The controversial and bloody legacy of the world’s most famous drug trafficker remains a profitable business for many, including some members of his family and former associates.
Making China Great Again
A piece suggesting that China is stepping into the vacuum created by America’s lack of international leadership.
In a Devastated Country, One City Is Thriving
Marib, a regional city in war-ravaged Yemen, lies “poised between horror and hope.”
The Word Choices That Explain Why Jane Austen Endures
A piece that analyses Austen’s writing to try to understand her success in the “Darwinian struggle for literary immortality”.