Longform

Rafe Bartholomew is the former features editor at Grantland and the author of Two and Two: McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me. “I never saw it as something negative because [my dad] comes out, to me, at the end, extremely heroic. … He becomes this dad who I idolized as a bartender, a guy who would hang out with me and make me laugh, a guy I just adored almost every step of the way. I mean, of course, everybody gets into fights. But to me it was always so obvious that he had overcome the problems in his childhood, he’d overcome his own drinking problem, he’d done all these things, and by the time I was older, he’d even found a way to get back into writing and self-publish a couple of books of poems about the bar. So he’s sort of managed to tick off all those goals, just maybe not on the same schedule, maybe not in the most normal way.” Thanks to MailChimp, V by Viacom, and 2U for sponsoring this week's episode. @Rafeboogs rafebartholomew.com Bartholomew on Longform Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin’ in Flip-Flops and th

Nick Bilton is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and the author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road. “I’ve been covering tech for a long, long time. And the thing I’ve always tried to do is cover the people of the tech culture, not the tech itself. … I've always been interested in the good and bad side of technology. A lot of times the problem in Silicon Valley is that people come up with a good idea that’s supposed to do a good thing—you know, to change the world and make it a better place. And it ends up inevitably having a recourse that they don’t imagine.” Thanks to MailChimp, Viacom, and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode. @nickbilton nickbilton.com Bilton on Longform [00:00] Ponzi Supernova [01:15] American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road (Portfolio • 2017) [01:45] Bilton’s New York Times archive [01:45] Bilton’s Vanity Fair archive [01:45] Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship,

Samin Nosrat is a food writer, educator, and chef. Her new book is Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. “I kind of couldn’t exist as just a cook or a writer. I kind of need to be both. Because they fulfill these two totally different parts of myself and my brain. Cooking is really social, it’s very physical, and also you don’t have any time to become attached to your product. You hand it off and somebody eats it, and literally tomorrow it’s shit. … Whereas with writing, it’s the exact opposite. It’s super solitary. It’s super cerebral. And you have all the time in the world to get attached to your thing and freak out about it.” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, Away, and Masters of Scale for sponsoring this week's episode. @CiaoSamin ciaosamin.com [01:45] Chez Panisse [02:00] Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (Simon & Schuster • 2017) [03:30] Pop-Up Magazine [27:45] Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (Michael Pollan • Penguin Books • 2014) [30:

Sarah Menkedick is a freelance writer and the founder of Vela. Her upcoming book is Homing Instincts: Early Motherhood on a Midwestern Farm. “I’d been rejected a ton of times—I had that 400-page thing that never became a book. So there were plenty of epic rejections that felt catastrophic. And I’d sort of arrived at this point where I was like: I’m living in my parents' cabin, and I’m pregnant, so whatever. Fuck it. I’m gonna write whatever I want to write.” Thanks to MailChimp and Blue Apron for sponsoring this week's episode. @sarahmenkedick sarahmenkedick.com Menkedick on Longform [00:15] The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh [01:00] Aaron and the Donut Dude [01:15] Homing Instincts: Early Motherhood on a Midwestern Farm (Pantheon • 2017) [01:15] Vela [02:15] "Why don’t people take writing about motherhood seriously? Because women do it" (Los Angeles Times • Apr 2017) [07:45] "A Wilderness of Waiting" (Vela • Feb 2015) [09:15] "Good Pilgrims" (Harper’s • Jul 2014) [17:30] "Living on the Hy

David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His new book is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. “The more stories I reported over time, the more I just realized there are parts of the story I can’t always get to. You know, unless this is a reality show and there’s 18 cameras in every room, and people [talk] before they sleep, and maybe you have some mind-bug in their brain for their unconscious, there are just parts you’re just not gonna know. You get as close as you can. And so the struggle to me is to get as close as I can, to peel it back as close as I can, but understanding that there will be elements, there will be pieces, that will remain lingering doubts.” Thanks to Stamps.com, Squarespace, and MailChimp for sponsoring this week's episode. @DavidGrann davidgrann.com Grann on Longform [00:45] David Grann on the Longform Podcast [01:45] Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (Doubleday • 2017) [14:15] Stoner [22:15] Scrivener [37

Alex Kotlowitz is a journalist whose work has appeared in print, radio, and film. He’s the author of three books, including There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. “The truth of the matter is, given what we do, we’re always outsiders. If it’s not by race or class, it’s by gender, religion, politics. It’s just the nature of being a nonfiction writer—going into communities that, at some level, feel unfamiliar. If you’re writing about stuff you already know about, where’s the joy in that? Where’s the sense of discovery? Why bother?” Thanks to MailChimp and MeUndies for sponsoring this week's episode. alexkotlowitz.com Kotlowitz on Longform [00:00] "Episode 03: Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media" (Stoner • Apr 2017) [01:30] There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America (First Anchor Books • 1992) [01:45] The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America’s Dilemma (First Anchor Books • 1999) [01:45] The Interr

Brian Reed, a senior producer at This American Life, is the host of S-Town. “It’s a story about the remarkableness of what could be called an unremarkable life.” Thanks to MailChimp, Casper, and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode. @brihreed Reed's This American Life archive [30:00] "Cops See It Differently" (This American Life • Feb 2015) [30:00] "Wake Up Now" (This American Life • Dec 2014) [45:45] Stoner (John Wiliams • Viking • 1965) [49:30] Photo of the S-Town planning room [47:15] The Known World: A Novel (Edward P. Jones • HarperCollins • 2003) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hrishikesh Hirway is the host of Song Exploder. “I love the idea that somebody would listen to an episode [of Song Exploder] and then the feeling that they would have afterwards is, ‘Now I want to make something.’ That’s the best possible reaction. Whether it’s music or not, just that idea: ‘I want to make something.’ Because that is the thing that I love most, getting that feeling.” Thanks to MailChimp and MeUndies for sponsoring this week's episode. @HrishiHirway [00:00] Stoner [01:45] BBC’s Classic Albums [02:30] "Episode 80: Bojack Horseman" (Song Exploder • Aug 2016) [02:30] "Episode 95: Moonlight" (Song Exploder • Jan 2017) [09:15] Genius [09:30] Who Sampled [18:00] 99% Invisible [19:15] "Episode 42: U2" (Song Exploder • Jun 2015) [22:30] The One AM Radio [23:00] Moors [26:30] City Soundtracks [28:15] The West Wing Weekly [33:30] "Episode 111: Louis CK Part 1" (WTF with Marc Maron • Oct 2010) [38:45] "Episode 84: Peter Bjorn and John" (Song Exploder • Sep 2016) [44:45] Francis and the Lights Learn mo

Sheelah Kolhatkar is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street. “Suddenly the financial crisis happened and all this stuff that had been hidden from view came out into the open. It was like, ‘Oh, this was actually all kind of a big façade.’ And there was all this fraud and stealing and manipulation and corruption, and all these other things going on underneath the whole shiny rock star surface. And that really also demonstrated to people how connected business stories, or anything to do with money, are to everything else going on. I mean, really almost everything that happens in our world, if you trace it back to its source, it’s money at the root of it.” Thanks to MailChimp, Blue Apron, and Stamps.com for sponsoring this week's episode. @sheelahk sheelahkolhatkar.com Kolhatkar on Longform [00:15] SAIC Application [00:30] Pregnant Pause [01:15] Missing Richard Simmons [04:00] Black Edge: Ins

Al Baker is a crime reporter at The New York Times, where he writes the series “Murder in the 4-0.” “When there’s a murder in a public housing high rise, there’s a body on the floor. Jessica White in a playground, on a hot summer night. Her children saw it. Her body fell by a bench by a slide. You look up and there’s hundreds of windows, representing potentially thousands of eyes, looking down on that like a fishbowl. …They’re seeing it through the window and they can see that there’s a scarcity of response. And then they measure that against the police shooting that happened in February when there were three helicopters in the air and spotlights shining down on them all night and hundreds of officers with heavy armor going door to door to door to find out who shot a police officer. They can see the difference between a civilian death and an officer death.” Thanks to MailChimp and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode. @bakeal [02:15] Murder in the 4-0 [04:15] Baker’s Archive at New York Daily New

Caity Weaver is a staff writer at GQ. “I always try to remember: you don’t have to tell people what you’re not good at. You don’t have to remind them of what you’re not doing well or what your weak points are. Don’t apologize for things immediately. Always give a little less information than they need. Don’t overshare.” Thanks to MailChimp for sponsoring this week's episode. @caityweaver caity.info Weaver on Longform [02:30] "Kim Kardashian West Has a Few Things to Get Off Her Chest" (GQ • Jun 2016) [11:45] Weaver's Hairpin archive [13:00] Weaver's Gawker archive [13:00] A.J. Daulerio on the Longform Podcast [15:30] "New Jersey Children Forced to Shun Sad, Friendless Bear" (Gawker• Jun 2013) [16:30] "Justin Bieber Would Like to Reintroduce Himself" (GQ • Feb 2016) [18:00] "Larry David and Julia Louis-Dreyfus Are Furious" (GQ • Nov 2015) [25:15] "Gawker Slammed for Story Outing Condé Nast Exec" (Jessica Roy • New York • Jul 2015) [25:45] "Caity Weaver Takes the Gawker Buyout" (Benjamin Mullin • Poynter • Ju

Matthew Cole is an investigative reporter at The Intercept, where he recently published “The Crimes of Seal Team 6.” “I’ve gotten very polite and very impolite versions of ‘go fuck yourself.’ I used to have a little sheet of paper where I wrote down those responses just as the vernacular that was given to me: ‘You’re a shitty reporter, and I don’t talk to shitty reporters.’ You know, I’ve had some very polite ones, [but] I’ve had people threaten me with their dogs. Some of it is absolutely cold.” Thanks to Squarespace, Blue Apron, and MailChimp for sponsoring this week's episode. @matthewacole matthewacole.com Cole on Longform [02:45] "The Crimes of Seal Team 6" (The Intercept • Jan 2017) [18:45] "SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines" (Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovaleski, Sean D. Naylor, and John Ismay • New York Times • Jun 2015) [21:00] "NBC Suspends Brian Williams for Six Months Over Iraq Helicopter Story" (Rory Carroll • Guardian • Feb 2015)

Alexis C. Madrigal is an editor-at-large for Fusion, where he’s producing the upcoming podcast, Containers. “Sometimes you think like, 'Man the media business is the worst. This is so hard.' When you spend time with all these other business people, you probably are going to say, ‘Capitalism is the worst. This is hard.’ Competition that’s linked to global things is so hard because global companies are locked in this incredible efficiency battle that just drives all of the slack out of the system. Like media, there’s no slack left, and I don’t know where things go after that.” Thanks to MailChimp, Stamps.com, and Casper for sponsoring this week's episode. @alexismadrigal alexismadrigal.com Madrigal on Longform [00:00] Longform Podcast Survey [03:00] Madrigal’s Archive at The Atlantic [03:45] Consumer Conspicuous [05:00] Ross Andersen on the Longform Podcast [05:30] "First-Gen T. Rex Was No Bigger Than You" (Wired • Sep 2009) [06:45] Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology (Da Capo Pre

Ana Marie Cox is the senior political correspondent for MTV News, conducts the “Talk” interviews in The New York Times Magazine, and founded Wonkette. “When people are sending me hate mail or threats, one defense I have against that is ‘you don’t know me.’ You know? That wasn’t something I always was able to say. As I’ve become a stronger person, it’s been easier for me to be like, ‘The person they’re attacking, it’s not me.’” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, and Blue Apron for sponsoring this week's episode. @anamariecox anamariecox.com [00:30] Missing Richard Simmons [04:15] Cox’s Archive at Suck.com [10:00] "The Uses of Enchantment" (Suck • Jul 1997) [11:00] Cox’s Archive at Mother Jones [12:15] The Chicago Maroon [12:45] "Waterworld" (Suck • Sep 1996) [21:45] "Joe Buck Knows Why You Hate Him" (New York Times Magazine • Feb 2017) [25:30] Cox’s Archive at New York Times Magazine [25:30] Cox’s Archive at GQ [29:15] "What Bush Wants You to Do" (Wonkette • Apr 2004) [30:45] "The Lost Washingtonienne" (Wonk

Brooke Gladstone is the host of On the Media. “I’ve learned so much about how easy it is to redefine reality in this era of billions of filter bubbles. How easy it is to cast doubt on what is undeniably true. And I think that that’s what frightens me the most. I actually think that’s what frightens most people the most. How do we make sure that we all live in the same world? Or do we?” Thanks to MailChimp, Texture, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago for sponsoring this week's episode. @OTMBrooke On the Media [01:00] Love and Ruin (W.W. Norton & Company • 2016) [01:15] Gladstone on the Longform Podcast [05:15] Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History [07:45] "Will the Supreme Court Stand Up to Trump?" (Linda Greenhouse • New York Times • Feb 2017) [13:00] "January Surprise" (On the Media • Jan 2017) [20:00] "Objectivity: What Is It Good For?" (On the Media • Feb 2017) [29:00] "How Trump Might Save the Media He So Despises" (On the Media • Jan 2017) [29:15] "Winter Is Coming: Prospects for the American Press Un

Ezra Edelman is the director of O.J.: Made in America. “When I say what I learned is that America is even more fucked up than I had previously thought, it’s that—the superficiality of it. How we are willingly seduced by these shiny people and these shiny things. And, again, when I looked at O.J.’s trajectory, that was an operating principle.” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, Casper, and Secrets, Crimes, & Audiotape for sponsoring this week's episode. @ezraedelman [00:45] "Vanish" (Evan Ratliff • Wired • Nov 2009) [00:45] O.J.: Made in America [02:30] Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals [10:30] The Straight Story [20:30] Tamara Rosenburg on IMDB [38:15] Caroline Waterlow on IMDB [39:15] Nina Krstic on IMDB [46:30] "What Football Does to the Brain" (Mike Orcutt • MIT Technology Review • Jan 2016) [52:15] "Most Black People Now Think O.J. Was Guilty" (Carl Bialik • FiveThirtyEight • Jun 2016) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alexey Kovalev is a Moscow-based journalist and the author of the recent article, “A Message to My Doomed Colleagues in the American Media." “It’s really disheartening to see how little it takes for people to start believing in something that directly contradicts the empirical facts that they are directly confronting. The Russian TV channel tells you that the pill is red, but the pill in front of you is blue. It completely alters the perception of reality. You don’t know what’s real anymore.” Thanks to MailChimp and Penn State World Campus. @Alexey_Kovalev noodleremover.news [00:15] "A message to my doomed colleagues in the American media" (Medium • Jan 2017) [02:45] RIA Novosti [06:00] RT [07:30] Kovalev’s Archive at The Guardian [11:45] "RT, Information War, and Billions of Views: Where do the numbers come from?" (Translated by Aric Toler • Stop Fake • Jan 2017) [12:00] Adrian Chen on the Longform Podcast [12:00] "The Troll Hunters" (Adrian Chen • MIT Technology Review • Dec 2014) [16:30] The Intelligenc

Jeff Sharlet writes about politics and religion for Esquire, GQ, New York Times Magazine, and more. “I like the stories with difficult people. I like the stories about people who are dismissed as monsters. I hate the term ‘monster.’ ‘Monster’ is a safe term for us, right? Trump’s a monster. Great, we don’t need to wrestle with, ‘Uh oh, he’s not a monster. He’s in this human family with us.’ I’m not normalizing him. I’m acknowledging the fact. Now, what’s wrong with us? If Trump is human, what’s wrong with you?” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, and Blue Apron for sponsoring this week's episode. @JeffSharlet jeffsharlet.blogspot.com Sharlet on Longform [00:15] "David Fahrenthold: Investigating Trump" (Katie Couric • Katie Couric Show • Dec 2016) [00:30] "Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower" (Katie Couric • Katie Couric Show • Dec 2016) [07:00] Decât o Revistă [08:00] "Bullies in the Schoolyard" (Tablet • Dec 2016) [08:30] Killing the Buddha [08:45] Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin • Vintage • 2013) [

Jace Clayton is a music writer and musician who records as DJ /rupture. His book is Uproot: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture. “What does it mean to be young and have some sound inside your head? Or to be in a scene that you want to broadcast to the world? That notion of the world is changing, who you’re broadcasting to is changing, all these different things—the tool sets. But there’s this very fundamental joy of music making. I was like, ‘Ok. Let’s find flashpoints where interesting things are happening and can be unpacked that shed different little spotlights on it, but do fall into this wider view of how we articulate what’s thrilling to be alive right now.’” Thanks to MailChimp for sponsoring this week's episode. @djrupture jaceclayton.com [04:15] Uproot: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture (Farrar, Straus and Giroux • 2016) [05:00] Wax Poetic [05:30] "Slow Burn" (The Fader • Jul 2008) [06:00] "Past Masters" (The National • Mar 2009) [15:30] "Pitch Perfect" (Frieze • May

Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air. “Part of my philosophy of life is that you have to live with a certain amount of delusion. And part of the delusion I live with is that maybe, from experience, I’m getting a little bit better. But then the other part of me, the more overpowering part of me, is the pessimistic part that says, ‘It’s going to be downhill from here.’ I try not to judge myself too much because I’m so self-judgmental that I don’t want to over-judge and get into too much of ‘Am I better than I was yesterday, or not?’” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, and Blue Apron for sponsoring this week's episode. Gross on Longform Fresh Air [26:30] "Hillary Clinton: The Fresh Air Interview" (Fresh Air • Jun 2014) [29:30] "Among the Hillary Haters" (Hanna Rosin • The Atlantic • Mar 2015) [43:53] "Our Mission and Vision" (NPR • 1971) [52:45] "Fresh Air 2: 2 Fresh 2 Furious" (YouTube) [56:16] All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists (Hachette Bo