43 of the Most Iconic Short Stories in the English Language

From Washington Irving to Kristen Roupenian.

Why Is ‘Bob’s Burgers’ So Freakishly Lovable? This Guy.

Loren Bouchard’s accidental career as a comedy mogul has now brought his TV family to the big screen.

The True Story Of A Man-Eating Tiger's 'Vengeance'

In December 1997, a tiger prowled the outskirts of a small town in Russia's Far East. In his book The Tiger, John Vaillant re-creates the events of that terrifying winter in an environment where man and tiger live side-by-side.

Hacker News

The story of See’s Candies reminds us of the importance of consistency, quality, and long-term growth in investing.

The History of Lady Lookouts

Spotting smoke from towers on high peaks could have been deemed ‘man’s work,’ but a few pioneers paved the way for generations of women to do the job.

‘People took so many drugs, they forgot they played on it’ – stars on Exile on Main St, the Rolling Stones’ sprawling masterpiece

Recorded during several hedonistic months in a fabulous Cote d’Azur villa, Exile on Main St is seen as the Stones’ epic, creative peak. As the classic album turns 50, stars tell us how it got their rocks off

The Strange Afterlife of George Carlin

Nearly 14 years after his death, his provocative humor has been embraced by people across the political spectrum. What happens when comedy outlasts the era it was made for?

A Woman Alone in Oman: Three Weeks Along the Arabian Coast

In December, a photographer set off on a 2,600-mile road trip, traveling from the Yemeni border to the Strait of Hormuz. Here’s what she saw.

How Ukrainians Saved Their Capital | The New Yorker

When Russia attacked Kyiv, Ukrainians dropped everything to protect the city—and to ease one another’s suffering.

The Island That Humans Can’t Conquer | Hakai Magazine

A faraway island in Alaska has had its share of visitors, but none can remain for long on its shores.

How Bitcoin Tracers Took Down the Web’s Biggest Child Abuse Site

Welcome to Video’s customers thought their payments were untraceable. They couldn’t have been more wrong. The untold story of the case that shredded the myth of Bitcoin’s anonymity.

The Legend of the Music Tree

Exotic lumber salvaged from a remote forest in Belize is the world’s most coveted tonewood

MIT scans brain of hyperpolyglot Vaughn Smith, who speaks 24 languages - Wa

In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn Smith was a savant with a secret.

Is Geometry a Language That Only Humans Know? (Published 2022)

Neuroscientists are exploring whether shapes like squares and rectangles — and our ability to recognize them — are part of what makes our species special.

The Cult of Adam Tooze

How the impeccably credentialed, improbably charming economic historian supplanted the dirtbag left.

A Cold Case

Suddenly, a New York cop remembered a long-ago double murder.

How national identities are invented

A strong national identity is essential for any country's survival – and the easiest route to acquiring one is to unite behind a common enemy.

Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck

On the value of unconscious association, or why the best advice is no advice.

Wonders and warnings from the ancient world | Daisy Dunn | The Critic Magaz

This article is taken from the March 2022 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issue for just £10. If you’ve ever wondered how letters were…

Revolución on the Cookie Factory Floor

The new owner of Argentina’s de facto national treat stopped paying his majority-female workforce — so they seized control of the entire operation.

Bringing Home Braden: The extraordinary ‘rescue’ of a fallen California fir

In the midst of the 2018 Ferguson Fire in Northern California, a young bulldozer driver tumbled to his death trying to cut a fire break to protect his friends and his neighbors. Despite flames and dangerous terrain, his fellow firefighters were determined to do whatever it took…

The Medical Miracle of a Pig’s Heart in a Human Body

The first successful transplantation may solve a donor shortage, but this major scientific advancement is not without challenges.

How America Saved Millions of Dogs—By Moving Them

How adoptable animals became a cultural phenomenon in their own right, and a key part of a transformation of companion-animal welfare.

The Babushka of Baikal, the granny in her 80th year who has popularised the

The Rise and Fall of a Prison Town Queen

A family feud over drugs, money and fried fish roils the heart of the Texas prison system.

The Last Oyster Tongers of Apalachicola — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

Oysters may survive population decline in Apalachicola, Florida, but what about the people who harvest them?

Led Zeppelin Gets Into Your Soul

The musicians were diabolically bad as people, and satanically good as performers.

Finding the world’s deepest shipwreck

In 1944, the USS Johnston sank after a battle against the world's largest battleship. More than 75 years later, her wreck was finally located, 6km (3.7 miles) below the waves.

The Infamous FBI Informant Behind a 20-Fatality Limo Crash

It was the deadliest U.S. transportation disaster in a decade. The man behind it was one of the most notorious confidential informants in FBI history.

Divine Comedy - Wikipedia

The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of Western literature. The poem's…

Dun, Dun Duuun! Where did pop culture’s most dramatic sound come from?

Did the iconic three-note sequence come from Stravinsky, the Muppets or somewhere else? Our writer set out to – dun, dun duuuun! – reveal the mystery

What Lies Beneath

In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José sank in a deadly battle against English warships, taking with it billions in treasure. Centuries passed until a secretive archaeologist found the wreck, but now nations are again warring over who may claim the gold and glory.

The Eerie, Lunar Nothingness of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast (Published 2022)

The stretch of coastline in southwest Africa is a strange and beautiful reminder that, in the end, we are powerless against nature and time.

Welcome to the land that no country wants | Jack Shenker | World news | The

The long read: In 2014, an American dad claimed a tiny parcel of African land to make his daughter a princess. But Jack Shenker had got there first – and learned that states and borders are volatile and delicate things

20 Short Novels To Stay Up All Night Reading

Unputdownable books you can finish in bed tonight.

From Prejudice to Pride | Hakai Magazine

In the 20th century, Japanese anthropologists and officials tried to hide the existence of the Indigenous Ainu. Then the Ainu fought back like their cousins, the bears.

The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'

For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why? And how did the habit disappear?

The (Other) French Chef | Hazlitt

Julia Child's collaborator Simone Beck has lingered as an object of pity in public memory. But maybe Beck didn’t want stardom at all.

Still She Rises — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

Biscuit-whisperer Erika Council honors the women who taught her to bake a perfect biscuit.

Ninety-Nine Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2021

The year's most exciting discoveries include a Viking "piggy bank," a lost Native American settlement and a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf

John Madden Was America’s Greatest Football Teacher

Madden, who died Tuesday at the age of 85, made a generation of football fans smarter

Qassem Suleimani and How Nations Decide to Kill

The political, moral, and visceral considerations behind assassination.

The Looming Threat of a Nuclear Crisis with Iran

The Biden Administration faces a potential confrontation with a longtime rival that is better armed and more hard-line than at any time in its modern history.

The Incredible Fig

The fig is an ecological marvel. Although you may never want to eat one again.

Where the Tupelo Grows — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

Beekeeping helped Gary Adkison pull his life together. Now he's among the tenacious harvesters of tupelo honey.

The History of O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'

The beloved Christmas short story may have been dashed off on deadline but its core message has endured

The lawyer who tried faking his death, and the writer exposing his crime dynasty

Mandy Matney kept a harsh spotlight trained on South Carolina’s Murdaugh family until they became impossible for anyone to ignore

The Race to Find ‘Green’ Helium

Helium is a critical—and finite—resource. The future of our most indispensable technologies depends on a new supply.

Umami Exists and MSG is its Messenger

For a long time, I thought MSG was a food additive more like "Red 40", that it had some obscure food-science use and junk food companies were either too lazy or callous to replace it. It turns out it's more like salt. Good luck taking that out of your Cheetos.

See the Real Live Man Who Grew Up in a Carnival

For our reporter, “Nightmare Alley” recalls a childhood spent working the circuit with his parents. Carnies like the World’s Smallest Woman welcomed him when cruel classmates didn’t.