Long Reads That Stand the Test of Time

In 1973, the whole country was gripped by the tragic story of John McClamrock, a high school football player paralyzed during a violent tackle. But after the newspapers moved on, another story was quietly unfolding, one of courage, perseverance, and a mother’s fierce love.

To understand how air-force navigator Tyler Stark ended up in a thornbush in the Libyan desert in March 2011, one must understand what it’s like to be president of the United States—and this president in particular. Hanging around Barack Obama for six months, in the White House, aboard Air Force One, and on the basketball court, Michael Lewis learns the reality of the Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent Stark into combat.

The “crazy busy” existence so many of us complain about is almost entirely self-imposed.

Let’s agree that diamonds are bullshit and reject their role in the marriage process. Let’s admit that as a society we got tricked for about century into coveting sparkling pieces of carbon, but it’s time to end the nonsense.

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.

There should be 100,000 intelligent alien civilizations in our galaxy — so why haven't we found any of them?

Software has been around since the 1940s. Which means that people have been faking their way through meetings about software, and the code that builds it, for generations.

An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.

It's not about suspense; it's about survival.

Where was the president in the eight hours after the Sept. 11 attacks? The strange, harrowing journey of Air Force One, as told by the people who were on board.

Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.

After learning she doesn’t have long to live, a woman composes a dating profile for the man she will leave behind.

Mark Bittman and Dr. David L. Katz patiently answer pretty much every question we could think of about healthy food.

A story of power, drought, migrant labor, and an insatiable drive to expand.

Let’s talk about bad sex.

“I couldn’t figure out why small, straightforward tasks on my to-do list felt so impossible. The answer is both more complex and far simpler than I expected.”

The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America.

It is sold as a force that can help us cope with the ravages of capitalism, but with its inward focus, mindful meditation may be the enemy of activism.

A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth.

At 22, he single-handedly put a stop to the worst cyberattack the world had ever seen. Then he was arrested by the FBI. This is his untold story.

A teenage clerk dialed 911. How should the brothers who own CUP Foods pay for what happened next?

The Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who had been declaring, at rally after rally, that they would go to violent lengths to keep the President in power. A chronicle of an attack foretold.

What happens when we talk to animals?

The writer Caity Weaver’s pursuit of the manifest destiny of the millennial generation ended up looking better in the photos.

It’s not just a phase.

Dive into the brilliant advice, top-saved stories, and startling predictions that the Pocket community has been saving—and coming back to—for the past decade.