A profile of US Senator John McCain, written in 1997 by author and journalist Michael Lewis (Lewis’s notable works include Moneyball, Flash Boys & The Big Short). He found an unusual politician, unwilling to operate like most of his peers, something that has proven both a strength and a hindrance throughout his career.
If freshly minted White House Communications Director Anthony “Mooch” Scaramucci appears to you like a three episode antagonist from a 5.2/10-on-IMdb show you watch anyway because you wish the West Wing was still going, then this story is 100% true to type. Since the story was published on Thursday, it has gone viral and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has been replaced with a retired four star general.
On the trail of Cahokia, a city in what is today Illinois – at its peak around the year 1000, it was bigger than Paris, but it was later totally abandoned.
The historian Niall Ferguson finds better parallels for the current political climate in American populism of the late 1800s rather than the more frequently referenced European fascism of the 1930s and 40s.
A look behind the scenes at how H.R McMaster adapted from the military into his role of National Security Adviser, and the reality of dealing with a boss who takes in little of what you say. His solution was straightforward – “If Mattis was a babysitter, then McMaster was a waiter, presenting the Commander-in-Chief with a menu, and letting him order.” What this didn’t necessarily allow for was any questioning of what was going on the menu.
The strange and grim story of an online romance on an over-50s dating site that quickly progressed to marriage, and then went to much darker places as the story of ‘Filthy’ John Meehan unravelled. The deep-dive piece is accompanied by a six part podcast.
This piece looks at the Marvel superheroes over time, and asks whether the subversive streak that once ran strong in them has been lost.
A behind the scenes account of Travis Kalanick’s defenestration from his role as Uber’s CEO. The piece provides insights into the delicate power balance between executives and their company boards. Recent events do though help to put Kalanick’s ‘fall’ in context – an investment in Uber by Japanese firm Softbank has recently been agreed, netting him an estimated $1.4bn.
And insidery view of the strategy an upstart takes in a bid to usurp the big studios in Hollywood. Essential reading if, for instance, you’re interested in how Keanu Reeves pitched ‘Unmanned’, a film described by its producer as “‘Saving Private RyanÕ five minutes in the future”.
The New Yorker’s editor David Remnick sits down with a defiant and frank Hillary Clinton.