Recommended Reading

Kota Youngblood told his neighbors there were hits out on their lives — and only he could save them

A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.

What Will Happen to All Our Emails When We Die

How would you feel if your therapist's notes - your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings - were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequences

On the sequel economics of ideas.

America's new gambling epidemic

Says everyone who's buying from looksmaxxers on Instagram or AI bots in China and injecting them into their bloodstream.

Like The New Yorker, I was born in 1925. Somewhat to my surprise, I decided to keep a journal of my hundredth year.

Today, we revisit the ubiquitous 1984 Bob Marley compilation Legend, a woefully incomplete portrait of the Jamaican artist that, nevertheless, became legendary.

Has tech plunged culture into an era devoid of originality and surprise?

How the rise and fall of the nihilist hipster gave us the cruel reactionaries of today.

This is the story of how a man traded steady, grinding corporate security for a dying craft and, in the process, found his soul.

The country singer was poised to be the next big thing, but his struggle with mental illness left him lost, alone, and on a path of self-destruction

Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.

Different zip codes, different lives, but somehow, they all trace the same strange road back to a place called Hot Dog University.

Last summer, a University of Wyoming art professor pedaled his singlespeed into the Laramie wilderness and never came back. His friends and family are still hoping for answers.

How two men charged with an outrageous kidnapping scheme introduced a new kind of crime to the city.

Holding on to Joy at Disneyland

A former FBI agent traveled to Louisiana to ask a hired killer about a murder that haunted him. Then they started talking about a different case altogether.

He thought he'd make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker.

Tabatha Pope thought she'd finally found an affordable place to live. It was the beginning of a nightmare.

Jason Landry's disappearance confounded the state's top investigators. When thousands of online sleuths got involved, intrigue turned into obsession.

It isn't a new phenomenon, but it seems to matter more

Interdimensional travel, sex with aliens, communion with God. Anything is possible with just a sprinkle of DMT. Akasha Song's secret labs made millions of doses—and dollars—until the feds showed up.

Meet the critics who believe the arts are in terminal decline.

Across America, in front of crowds of thousands, men and women are dressing up as knights from the Middle Ages and fighting one another. The weapons, violence, and chivalry are all real.

Former senseis and business partners accuse Schulmann of building his $35-million-a-year martial-arts empire with Mafia tactics. What, you expect him to apologize?

If you wanted to turn someone into a socialist you could do it in about an hour by taking them for a spin around the paddock of a Formula 1 race. The kind of money I saw will haunt me forever.

They gave up the game after high school, but the damage seemingly was already done. Now, their families mourn and look for answers

The childhood friends behind the most audacious string of sports-memorabilia heists in American history

A sobering snapshot of what being a sports fan can look like in this fledgling era of app-based betting.

As revolutionary new weight-loss drugs turn consumers off ultraprocessed foods, the industry is on the hunt for new products.

Few things symbolize our national dysfunction as much as this accursed coin, which we mint by the millions because it's too worthless to spend.

Why we want the wrong things.

People who believe conspiracies about the Trump assassination attempt or buy into QAnon are often seeking purpose or belonging — truth is beside the point.

Louis Menand reviews Triumph of the Yuppies: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation

Americans have become terrible at forming and keeping friendships. But there must be somebody out there who wants to grab a burrito with me.

Pete Wells is moving on from his role as the Times restaurant critic, a job with many rewards and maybe too many courses.

For Jock Sutherland, being hailed as the world's best surfer was just one phase in an unlikely life.

Benjamin B. Bolger has spent his whole life amassing academic degrees. What can we learn from him?

Why would an armed officer stand by as a school shooting unfolds?

At Chicago's buzziest new restaurant, Mike Satinover is obsessed with one goal: making the perfect bowl of Japanese noodles.

Decades after the unexplained deaths of two American climbers in Argentina, a camera belonging to one of them was found in the snow. The film held astonishing images, but the mystery endures.

Conman Rick Dugo targeted his victims in gyms until one man finally helped take him down.

First, Salt Life was a tattoo. Then it became a logo. Now it is a lifestyle brand with plans to open stores from coast to coast.

Live had some of the alt-rock era's hugest hits, but in recent years the former bandmates have been bitterly divided by legal drama and interpersonal conflict

How the cult of consumerism ushered in an era of badly made products.

Recipeasly allowed users to strip stories and ads from online recipes, but the food blogging community cried foul.

AA Gill used to think that being an NHS patient was like travelling second class on a train, grittier than first class, but in the end everyone ended up at the same destination. But in his farewell piece he tells of his discovery of a drug not available on the NHSAA.