Longform

Rachel Syme has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Grantland, and more. “You have this sense that you’re bonding, but at the same time you're also going to betray them. Because if you hear this quote that they say or you see it in a mannerism, you write it in your notebook and you think ‘I got it.’” Thanks to TinyLetter, The Great Courses, MarketingProfs, and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @rachsyme rachelsyme.com [4:00] "The Broad Strokes" (Grantland • Jan 2014) [4:00] "Azealia Banks on Why No One Really Wants to See Her Naked, Her Impure Thoughts About Barack Obama and Why She's 'Not Here to Be Your Idol'" (Billboard • Apr 2015) [5:00] "Id Girls" (Nick Paumgarten • New Yorker • Jun 2014) [7:00] TLC's Kickstarter [29:00] "Laura Marling Bids Goodbye to All That" (T Magazine • Mar 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anna Sale is the host of Death, Sex & Money. “It's the result of listening, of feeling listened to, that people open up. I look like a crazy person when I do interviews, because sometimes someone will be describing something and I will close my eyes and try to picture what they’re telling me. And if I can’t picture the moment they’re describing I’ll just try to dig in a little bit more.” Thanks to TinyLetter, The Great Courses, MarketingProfs, and WealthFront for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @annasale annasale.com [3:00] The Atavist Magazine [3:00] "Operation Red Falcon" (Ronen Bergman • The Atavist Magazine • Apr 2015) [4:00] Another Round with Heben & Tracy [7:00] "This Senator Saved My Love Life" [10:00] "Brooklyn Left Me Broke and Tired" [15:00] "How to Be a Man With Bill Withers" [32:00] "Living Alone and Liking It. Sometimes." [32:00] "Cheating Happens." [38:00] "Ellen Burstyn's Lessons on Survival" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott Anderson is a war correspondent and novelist. He’s written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, and more. “I really feel that what’s at the root of so many wars now, modern wars, unconventional wars, it really just comes down to a bunch of young guys with access to guns coming up with a pretext to rape and murder and pillage and steal from their neighbors.” Thanks to TinyLetter, MarketingProfs, and WealthFront for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: Anderson on Longform [5:00] The Man Who Tried to Save the World (Doubleday • 1999) [5:00] "Prisoner of War" (Harper’s • Jan 1997) [sub required] [5:00] War Zones (with Jon Lee Anderson • Dodd Mead • 1988) [14:00] "What Happened to Fred Cuny?" (New York Times Magazine • Feb 1996) [19:00] "The Hunger Warriors" (New York Times Magazine • Oct 2001) [29:00] "Besieged" (New York Times Magazine • Sep 2006) [34:00] "None Dare Call It a Conspiracy" (GQ • Sep 2009) [35:00] "Why 'GQ' Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story" (David Folkenfl

Dayna Tortorici is the editor of n+1. “You can't fetishize conflict so much. Because conflict does generate a lot of good work, but it also inhibits a lot of good work. I think people do their best work when they feel good. Or at least don't feel like shit. ... So I've tried to create a culture of mutual encouragement. Especially when you're not paying anybody, that's all you can really offer.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Wealthfront for sponsoring this week's show. Show Notes: @dtortorici nplusonemag.com [2:00] Longform Podcast #30: Keith Gessen [19:00] "Hands Up: A Roundtable on Police Brutality" (Cosme Del-Rosario Bell, Elias Rodriques, Doreen St. Felix, Dayna Tortorici • n+1 • Nov 2014) [19:00] No Regrets [25:00] "Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America" [39:00] What Was the Hipster? [51:00] Subscribe to n+1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam Platt is the restaurant critic for New York. “My job was described to me recently as ‘the last great job of the 20th century.’ I think there might be something to that.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Lynda, Casper, and Wealthfront for sponsoring this week's show.  Show Notes: @plattypants [1:00] Longform Podcast #43: Margalit Fox [12:00] "Apple of the Times" (New Yorker • Jan 1993) [sub required] [12:00] "Messing About" (New Yorker • Mar 1993) [sub required] [18:00] "The Apotheosis of Fresh" (New York • Dec 2009) [41:00] "Restaurants" A review of Le Cirque (Ruth Reichl • The New York Times • Oct 1993) [43:00] "Hi, I'm Adam Platt, Your Restaurant Critic" (New York • Dec 2013) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Erik Larson is the author of several books, including The Devil in the White City. His latest is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. "I realized then and there, that afternoon, the thing that was going to make this interesting was the juxtaposition of light and dark, good and evil. This monument of civic good will versus this monument to the dark side of human nature. ... But that was really hard to pull off. And, frankly, on the eve of publication I was pretty sure my career was over." Thanks to TinyLetter, Wealthfront, andLove and Other Ways of Dying, the new collection from Michael Paterniti, for sponsoring this week's episode.  Show Notes: @exlarson eriklarsonbooks.com [1:00] Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Crown • Mar 2015) [1:00] Longform Podcast #93: Michael Paterniti [1:00] "Eating Jack Hooker's Cow" (Michael Paterniti • Esquire • Nov 1997) [4:00] Thunderstruck (Crown • 2004) [22:00] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Dean has written for GQ, Fast Company, New York, and more. His latest piece, "The Life and Times of the Stopwatch Gang," was just published by The Atavist. “I sort of reject the whole idea of something being beneath me. There are obviously some stories I wouldn’t do or that I have no interest in, but this job is fun and should be fun. And I wouldn’t turn something down that seems like a fun thing for me to do just because maybe the story is not something that 10,000 people are going to tweet about. I don’t give a shit.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Squarespace, Lynda and HP Matter for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @joshdean66 joshdean.com Dean on Longform [2:00] "The Life and Times of the Stopwatch Gang" (The Atavist • Feb 2015) [10:00] "Federer as Religious Experience" (David Foster Wallace • The New York Times • Aug 2006) [29:00] Longform Podcast #126: Taffy Brodesser-Akner [29:00] "Please God Stop the Rain" (New York • A

Mac McClelland has written for Mother Jones, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and others. Her book Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story came out this week. “I would just suddenly start sobbing, which is not something I usually do. I felt like I needed to be drunk all the time, which is also not something I usually do. I was having nightmares and I was having flashbacks. I was terrified and confused and disoriented all the time. I was a completely different person, unrecognizable even to myself.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Alarm Grid for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @MacMcClelland mac-mcclelland.com McClelland on Longform [1:00] Longform Podcast #6: Mac McClelland [1:00] Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story (Flatiron Books • 2015) [6:00] "Aftershocks: Welcome to Haiti's Reconstruction Hell" (Mother Jones • Jan 2011) [6:00] "Depression, Abuse, Suicide: Fishermen's Wives Face Post-Spill Trauma" (Mother Jones • Jun 201

Rukmini Callimachi covers ISIS for The New York Times. Part 1 of this episode is available here. “Ever since I started in journalism, I feel like I'm perpetually winded. Like I'm just running as hard as I can to stay ahead of this train that's crashing. The caboose is falling off the back and I'm trying to run faster than the train to get to this very limited pool of amazing jobs. Once I got overseas I would say a prayer every night for the amazing life I was finally able to lead.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @rcallimachi Callimachi on Longform [11:00] "The Horror Before the Beheadings" (The New York Times • Oct 2014) [15:00] "The Dynamics Of Demanding Ransom From Nations" (Robert Siegel • NPR • Aug 2014) [15:00] "Tremor Mortis" (Time • Feb 2001) [23:00] The Daily Herald [30:00] "Katrina's Nameless Dead" (AP • Dec 2006) [36:00] "From Amateur to Ruthless Jihadist in France" (with Jim Yardley • New York Times • Jan 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Vis

Rukmini Callimachi covers ISIS for The New York Times. “Nine out of 10 Americans said they were aware of James Foley's execution. That's a huge win for ISIS. That's what they want. I think they've realized that journalists are the crème de la crème as far as targets. And that's a really scary thing for our profession.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @rcallimachi Callimachi on Longform [4:00] "The Horror Before the Beheadings" (The New York Times • Oct 2014) [4:00] "From Amateur to Ruthless Jihadist in France" (The New York Times • Jan 2014) [7:00] "ISIS Declares Airstrike Killed a U.S. Hostage" (The New York Times • Feb 2015) [11:00] "With Proof From ISIS of Her Death, Family Honors Kayla Mueller" (The New York Times • Feb 2015) [12:00] "As U.S. Bombs Fall, British Hostage of ISIS Warns of Another Vietnam" (The New York Times • Sep 2014) [21:00] Callimachi's Pulitzer-nominated work for th

Jack Shafer covers the media for Politico. “This is a true story, not a ‘Brian Williams story’: my first report card said ‘Jack is a very good student, but he has a tendency to start fights on the playground and bring them back into the classroom.’ That's been my career style — start a fight and bring it back to the classroom.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: Show Notes: @jackshafer jackshafer.com Shafer on Longform [2:00] "Why Did Brian Williams Lie?" (Politico • Feb 2015) [2:00] "Brian Williams’ Slow Jam" (Politico • Feb 2015) [18:00] aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web (Kara Swisher • Crown Business • 1998) [21:00] Shafer’s archive on Slate [34:00] "The Trial of Stephen Glass" (Reuters • Dec 2011) [37:00] "'I Would Have Loved To Piss on Your Shoes'" (Slate • Jun 2011) [37:00] "'I Would Have Loved To Piss on Your Shoes,'

Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer. She is a columnist for VICE and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review and Vanity Fair. “As long as the marginalized communities I’m writing about don’t think I’m full of shit, that’s success to me.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Squarespace and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @mollycrabapple mollycrabapple.com mollycrabapple.tumblr.com [1:00] "Love and Ruin" (James Verini • The Atavist • Feb 2014) [1:00] "Slaves of Happiness Island" (VICE • Aug 2014) [10:00] Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [16:00] "My Arrest at Occupy Wall Street" (CNN • Sep 2012) [19:00] "It Don’t Gitmo Better Than This" (VICE • Jul 2013) [24:00] Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (James Agee and Walker Evans • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • 1941) [25:00] Discordia: Six Nights in Crisis Athens (with Laurie Penny • Vintage Digital • 2012) [30:00] "Caught Between ISIS and Assad" (VICE • Jun 2014) [36:00] "I

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and GQ. “My writing career was something that was always about to happen, just as soon as the baby falls asleep, just as soon as I finish watching this five-hour bout of As the World Turns, just as soon as... What do you do when you realize that you have not been doing the thing you were going to do? You're in your 30s. You get to work.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @taffyakner taffyakner.com Brodesser-Akner on Longform [20:00] "The Trials of a Chubby Yogi" (Self • Oct 2011) [26:00] "Who Controls Childbirth" (Self • Jul 2010) [31:00] "Who's Killing the Soaps?" (The Daily Beast • Dec 2009) [33:00] "Nicky Minaj: Cheeky Genius" (GQ • Nov 2014) [34:00] "2 Generations of Comedy Musicians Meet!: Weird Al Yankovic and The Lonely Island" (GQ • May 2013) [44:00] "Girls Fight Out" (Matter • Dec 2014) [46:00] "The Leftov

Anand Gopal has written for The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s and Foreign Policy. He’s the author of No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes. “When I got to the Taliban, I got out my notebook and tried to ask the hard-hitting questions. ‘What are you fighting for? Why are you doing this? What’s happening with the civilians you’re killing?’ And of course you do that and you get boilerplate answers and icy stares. So I just started asking them questions about their childhood. ... People love to talk about themselves and he began to open up and very subtly something shifted and it no longer became about the war and America versus the Taliban, it became about him being an Afghan and his experience.” Thanks to TinyLetter and Lynda for sponsoring this week's episode. If you would like to support the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Show Notes: @Anand_Gopal_ anandgopal.com [9:00] Longform Podcast #1: Matthieu Aikins [12:00] "Ousted By Iran, Afghan Refugees Languis

Alex Blumberg is a former producer for This American Life and Planet Money. Last year he founded Gimlet Media, a podcast network, and hosts its first show, StartUp. “When someone starts talking about something difficult, when they get unexpectedly emotional, your normal human reaction is to sort of comfort and steer away. To say, ‘Oh I’m sorry, let’s move on.’ What you need to do, if you want good tape, is to say, ‘Talk more about how you’re feeling right now.’ It feels like a horrible question to ask. It feels like you're going against your every instinct as a decent human being to go toward the pain that this person is experiencing.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Lynda and Alarm Grid for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @abexlumberg gimletmedia.com Blumberg’s archive on This American Life [2:00] Longform on Reply All #7: This Website Is For Sale [2:00] Longform Podcast #23: Starlee Kine [4:00] "Company Eight" (Matthew Pearl • The Atavist • Jan 2015) [20:00] "91: 33 Million Dollar Box" (This American L

Nicholas Carlson writes for Business Insider. His book Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo! came out this week. “To me people are what’s really interesting. Marissa Mayer is a once in a lifetime subject. She’s full of contradictions. … There are a million business stories, but if you don’t have that character at the center then you’re lost.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Lynda and Squarespace for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @nichcarlson Carlson on Longform [6:00] Longform Podcast #81: Kevin Roose [13:00] "What Happened When Marissa Mayer Tried to Be Steve Jobs" (New York Times Magazine • Dec 2014) [16:00] "Viacom Takes Google, YouTube Fight to Court" (InternetNews.com • Mar 2007) [18:00] Disney War (James B. Stewart • Simon & Schuster • 2005) [19:00] Longform Podcast #19: Choire Sicha [23:00] Longform Podcast #88: Sam Biddle [23:00] Carlson’s archive on Valleywag [33:00] "Google Gave Employees This Smartwatch As A Holiday Gift, And Some Of Them Are Whining About It" (Business Insider • Dec 20

Dan P. Lee is a contributing writer at New York. "I don't believe in answers. That's what compels me to write all of these stories. None of them ends nicely, none of them ends neatly." Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @Dan_P_Lee Lee on Longform Lee's New York archive [13:30] "Who Killed Ellen Andros?" (Philadelphia Magazine • Oct 2006) [22:45] "Travis the Menace" (New York • Jan 2011) [45:00] "Paw Paw & Lady Love" (New York • Jun 2011) [48:45] "4:52 on Christmas Morning" (New York • Dec 2012) [49:15] "The Camera's Cusp" (New York • Sep 2013) [49:15] "Where It Hurts" (New York • Dec 2013) [51:30] "The Good Seed" (GQ • Jun 2011) [55:30] "'I Just Want to Feel Everything'" (New York • Jun 2012) [1:04:00] "Welcome to the Real Space Age" (New York • May 2013) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Evan Wright, a two-time National Magazine Award winner, is the author of Generation Kill. "When people were killed, civilians especially, I realized I was the only person there who would write it down. I was frantic about getting names, and in the book there are a few Arabic names, some of the victims. Not that anyone cares. But I thought, 'At least somewhere there's a record of this.'" Thanks to our sponsor, TinyLetter. Show notes: @evanscribe Wright on Longform [3:45] Generation Kill (2004) [10:00] "Scenes From My Life in Porn" (L.A. Weekly • Mar 2000) [12:15] A.J. Liebling’s New Yorker archive [14:15] "Big Red Son" (David Foster Wallace • Consider the Lobster • 1998) [pdf] [16:30] Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (D.T. Max • 2012) [18:15] Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe,Wingnut's War Against the Gap, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America (2009) [28:00] "The Killer Elite" (Rolling Stone • Jul 2003) [30:30] Lo

Hanna Rosin is a senior editor at The Atlantic and a founder and editor at DoubleX. “I often think of reporting as dating, or even speed dating. You’re looking for someone where there’s a spark there between you and them. Sometimes that happens right away and sometimes it takes forever. ... You have to determine if they're reflective, friendly, open. It could be love at first sight and they're still all wrong, which is really heartbreaking.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Bonobos and The Los Angeles Times' Bookshelf Newsletter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @HannaRosin hannarosin.com Rosin on Longform [1:00] "Murder by Craigslist" (The Atlantic • Aug 2013) [1:00] "Hello, My Name Is Stephen Glass, and I’m Sorry" (The New Republic • Nov 2014) [7:00] The End of Men: And the Rise of Women (Riverhead Books • 2012) [18:00] The Executioner's Song (Norman Mailer • Little, Brown • 1979) [18:00] "The Evil Empire: The Scoop on Ben & Jerry's Crunchy Capitalism" (The New Republic • Sep 1995) [23:00] "The New Re

Meghan Daum's latest book of essays is The Unspeakable. “As writers we think, well there has to be closure, there has to be a beginning middle end, the character has to go through a change. And then in life we're supposed to have some sort of arc or aha moment, as if the experience isn't legitimate unless we get something out of it. That's so culturally constructed, as they say. It's so artificial.” Thanks to TinyLetter, Scribd, and Oscar for sponsoring this week's episode. Show Notes: @meghan_daum meghandaum.com Daum on Longform [1:00] The Unspeakable (Farrar, Straus and Giroux • 2014) [1:00] "My Misspent Youth" (New Yorker • Oct 1999) [18:00] "All About My Mother" (The Guardian • Nov 2014) [35:00] Daum’s archive of Los Angeles Times columns [38:00] My Misspent Youth (Open City Books • 2001) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices