Muscle Beach and the Dawn of Huge
Gold’s Gym, Venice Beach, California. Paul Solotaroff for Men’s Journal describes the history of Joe Gold's modest gym and it’s prominent role in the American fitness landscape.
Burgled in Philly
“When John Davidson’s apartment gets robbed, he learns that the easiest way to get his stuff back is to have one drug dealer lie to another drug dealer while he lies to the police.”
Burgled in Philly (2k) by John Davidson
Death on the Tracks
In Death on the Tracks, a seven-part investigative series for the New York Times, Walt Bogdanich uncovers the systemic failure of the railroad industry to maintain safe rail crossings. Far beyond simple negligence, Bogdanich describes eggregious violations common in the industy, including evidence tampering and cover-ups.
Death on the Tracks was researched and written by Walt Bogdanich, Jenny Nordberg, Tom Torok, Eric Koli, Claire Hoffman, and Jo Craven McGinty over a seven month period in 2004.
- Part 1: In Deaths at Rail Crossings, Missing Evidence and Silence (7k)
- Part 2: A Crossing Crash Unreported and a Family Broken by Grief (5k)
- Part 3: Amtrak Pays Millions for Others’ Fatal Errors (3k)
- Part 4: For Railroads and the Safety Overseer, Close Ties (2k)
- Part 5: Safety Group Closely Echoes Rail Industry (2k)
- Part 6: Questions Raised on Warnings at Rail Crossings (2k)
- Part 7: Oversight Is Spotty on Rail-Crossing Safety Projects (1k)
Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber
In a four-part piece for The Atlantic titled Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber, Harvard alum and former Kaczynski classmate, Alston Chase, examines Kaczynski’s time at Harvard and how it likely shaped his radical philosophy.
“Thus did Kaczynski’s Harvard experiences shape his anger and legitimize his wrath. By the time he graduated, all the elements that would ultimately transform him into the Unabomber were in place — the ideas out of which he would construct a philosophy, the unhappiness, the feelings of complete isolation. Soon after, so, too, would be his commitment to killing. Embracing the value-neutral message of Harvard’s positivism — morality was nonrational — made him feel free to murder. Within four years of graduating from Harvard he would be firmly fixed in his life’s plan.”
- Part 1: Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber (4k)
- Part 2: The Roots of the Unabomber (3k)
- Part 3: The Roots of the Unabomber cont. (4k)
- Part 4: The Unabomber (2k)
