Longform

Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower and Going Clear, is a staff writer for The New Yorker. "If I had the chance to interview Osama Bin Laden, should I kill him? It’s a fair question. Suppose we’re having dinner — should I stab him with the bread knife? Do I have a moral obligation to kill him? Or do I have a moral obligation as a reporter to simply hear him? … It’s sometimes difficult to take away the judgements that you naturally have. But when you do that, when you strip yourself and you’re morally naked, it’s sometimes surprising how infectious the relationship can become." Thanks to TinyLetter and Pillpack.com for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: lawrencewright.com @lawrence_wright Wright on Longform [6:00] Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (Knopf • Jan 2013) [6:00] The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Knopf • Aug 2006) [7:45] The Siege (Twentieth Century Fox • 1998) [14:45] "The Apostate" (The New Yorker • Feb 2011) [30:15] My Trip to Al-Qaeda (Jigsaw Productions • Apr 2010) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pamela Colloff and Mimi Swartz are executive editors of Texas Monthly. Colloff: "That sense of loss, that sense of normal life turning on a dime is something that, in a very different way, I’ve experienced. And I carry that with me into some of the more difficult stories." Swartz: "Here’s this great [public interest] story that nobody’s ever told. Now how can I write it so the maximum number of people want to read it? I try to make the homework part as interesting and compelling as possible." Thanks to TinyLetter and PillPack for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @pamelacolloff Colloff on Longform [2:15] Longform Podcast #16: Pamela Colloff [10:00] "A Bend in the River" (Texas Monthly • Jul 2002) [10:00] "A Question of Mercy" (Texas Monthly • Mar 2014) [10:30] "The Innocent Man, Part One" (Texas Monthly • Nov 2012) [10:30] "The Innocent Man, Part Two" (Texas Monthly • Dec 2012) [14:45] "Innocence Found" (Texas Monthly • Jan 2011) Show notes: @mimiswartz Swartz on Longform [25:30] "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives" (Texas Monthly • Aug 2012) [33:30] "The Ring and I" (Texas Monthly • Jan 2014) [35:15] "Sexual Misconduct in the Military--and Why Kirsten Gillibrand Is Pushing Reform to the Top of Her Agenda" (Vogue • Feb 2014) [35:45] "Failure is Not an Option" (Texas Monthly • Oct 2013) [41:00] Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron (Crown Business • Mar 2004) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jennifer Senior is a contributing editor at New York and the author of All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood. "I've had moments in motherhood that have been close to something like religious. But I don't think social scientists say things like, "How many numinous moments have you had?" They don't do that, so you have to figure out what to do. I was suddenly turning to other texts to try and explain all of this." Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @JenSeniorNY Senior on Longform [3:15] All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood (Ecco • Jan 2014) [6:30] "All Joy and No Fun" (New York • Jul 2010) [8:30] "Alone Together" (New York • Nov 2008) [39:00] "Hollywood on the Potomac" (New York Times • Dec 1993) [39:30] "The Language of the Deaf Evolves to Reflect New Sensibilities" (New York Times • Jan 1994) [44:15] "Hill Climbing" (New York • Apr 2001) [44:45] "Sorry, Your Time is Not Up" (New York • Aug 2001) [45:00] "Some Dark Thoughts on Happiness" (New York • Jul 2006) [46:00] "Can't Get No Satisfaction" (New York • Oct 2007) [46:15] "Recession Culture" (New York • May 2009) [46:15] "Why You Never Truly Leave High School" (New York • Jan 2013) [56:45] "In Conversation: Antonin Scalia" (New York • Oct 2013) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Roose, a writer at New York, has contributed to The New York Times, GQ and Esquire. His latest book is Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits. "Google will give you away. I feel like one undercover book is all you get these days before the jig is up. ... Unless, like Barbara Ehrenreich, you legally change your name. I was not quite prepared to go that far." Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @kevinroose kevinroose.com Roose on Longform [3:15] The Unlikely Disciple (Grand Central Publishing • 2010) [4:30] The Year of Living Biblically (A.J. Jacobs • Simon & Schuster • 2007) [16:45] Young Money (Grand Central Publishing • 2014) [30:15] Roose's New York Times archive [44:45] "Pursuing Self-Interest in Harmony with the Laws of the Universe and Contributing to Evolution is Universally Rewarded" (New York • Apr 2011) [54:00] "Go West, Young Bank Bro" (San Francisco • Feb 2014) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wil S. Hylton, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Vanished. "I despise the fucking nut graf. I think it's a joke, a cop out. The story probably should be about something larger than itself but if you have to tell people what that is, you've failed form the beginning. If they can't find it, you didn't put it there and you shouldn't be beating them over the head with it." Thanks to TinyLetter and The Fog Horn for sponsoring this week's episode, and to the Writing Department at the University of Pittsburgh for hosting. Show notes: @wilshylton wilshylton.com Hylton on Longform [1:45] Longform Podcast #28: Joel Lovell (live) [2:15] Vanished (Riverhead Books• 2013) [7:45] "The Search for the Lost Marines of Tarawa" (New York Times Magazine • Nov 2013) [11:30] "The Return of the Trolls" (Baltimore Sun • Apr 1992) [24:15] Longform Podcast #66: Andy Ward [25:00] "There Goes the Neighborhood, Up in Flames" (Esquire • Aug 1999) [31:15] "Hot Enough For Ya?" (Esquire • Aug 2000) [35:45] "The People vs. Richard Cheney" (GQ • Mar 2007) [36:15] "Casualty of War" (GQ • Jun 2004) [36:15] "The Big, Bad Wolfowitz?" (GQ • Dec 2003) [41:45] "Meltdown" (GQ • Feb 2008) [42:30] "How James Turrell Knocked the Art World Off Its Feet" (New York Times Magazine • June 2013) [47:15] "What Happened to Air France Flight 447?" (New York Times Magazine • May 2011) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Kushner, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, has written for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired and The Atavist. "The minute you see an incredible character, you know. The only thing I can compare it to is bowling, not that I'm much of a bowler. On the few times I've thrown a strike, you know it before it hits the pins." Thanks to TinyLetter and ProFlowers for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @davidkushner davidkushner.com Kushner on Longform [1:00] "The Bones of Marianna" (The Atavist • Dec 2013) [8:15] "The Hacker is Watching" (GQ • Jan 2012) [8:45] Masters of Doom (Random House • 2003) [8:45] Jacked (Wiley • 2012) [28:45] "Prepare to Meet Thy Doom" (Wired • May 2003) [30:45] "Cormac McCarthy's Apocalypse" (Rolling Stone • Dec 2007) [31:00] "Time Tunnels Meet Warped Passages" (IEEE Spectrum • Apr 2006) [37:45] "The WikiLeaks Mole" (Rolling Stone • Jan 2014) [41:45] Levittown (Walker & Company • 2009) [43:30] "I Was a Teenage Freak" (Rolling Stone • Sep 2003) [48:00] "Anonymous vs. Steubenville" (Rolling Stone • Nov 2013) [49:45] "Dead End on Silk Road" (Rolling Stone • Feb 2014) [51:45] "Anonymous vs. Scientology" (Maxim • Jul 2008) [54:15] "Sponge-Fraud!" (Vanity Fair • Jun 2012) [57:15] Longform Podcast #64: Gay Talese [1:00:16] "Machine Politics" (New Yorker • May 2012) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ariel Levy is a staff writer at The New Yorker. "I like an older awesome lady, I don't think enough is written about older awesome ladies and I don't think there are enough role models for younger awesome ladies. It’s great fun hanging out with an older awesome lady. It’s inspiring. And it makes you think 'Jesus, I might be rocking it when I’m 80!'" Thanks to ProFlowers and TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @avlskies Levy on Longform [3:00] "My First Time, Twice" (Guernica • June 2011) [7:15] Female Chauvinist Pigs (Free Press • 2006) [12:00] "The Perfect Wife" (New Yorker • Sep 2013) [12:30] "Breaking the Waves" (New Yorker • Feb 2014) [sub req'd] [12:45] "Nora Knows What To Do" (New Yorker • Jul 2009) [24:00] "Reservations" (New Yorker • Dec 2010) [sub req'd] [25:00] "I, Mack" (New York • May 2001) [25:00] "The Pretty-Boy Syndrome" (New York • Oct 2004) [27:00] "The Last Gentleman" (New York • Oct 2007) [27:00] "The Prisoner of Sex" (New York • Jun 2005) [30:45] "Enchanted" (New Yorker • Sep 2008) [30:45] "The Lonesome Trail" (New Yorker • Sep 2008) [32:00] "Trial By Twitter" (New Yorker • Aug 2013) [32:00] "Either/"Or" (New Yorker • Nov 2009) [40:45] "Thanksgiving in Mongolia" (New Yorker • Nov 2013) [48:15] "Living-Room Leopards" (New Yorker • Nov 2013) [sub req'd] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Roger D. Hodge is the editor of Oxford American. "My career isn't all that interesting insofar as I've been an editor. I'm much more interested in talking about writers and stories. That's the main thing: telling these stories, creating this platform, this context for the best possible storytelling." Thanks to TinyLetter and Random House for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @RogerDHodge oxfordamerican.org [5:15] "Long Way Home" (Rosanne Cash • Oxford American • Nov 2013) [5:45] The River and The Thread (Rosanne Cash • Blue Note Records • 2014) [10:00] Sewanee Review [18:45] "Mean Season" (Adrian McKinty • Harper's • Sep 1997) [sub req'd] [26:00] "The Net Giveth, and the Net Taketh Away" (Suck • Dec 1995) [31:30] Longform Podcast #5: Paul Ford [37:00] "The Guantánamo 'Suicides'" (Scott Horton • Harper's • Mar 2010) [43:45] "Dear Charlie" (Joe Hagan • Oxford American • Nov 2013) [49:15] Southword Radio Series (Oxford American & National Public Radio) [53:45] "Carl the Raping Goat Saves Christmas" (Lucy Alibar • Oxford American • Nov 2013) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

George Saunders has written for The New Yorker and GQ. His latest collection of short stories is Tenth of December. "Maybe you would understand your artistry to be: put me anywhere. I'll find human beings, I'll find human interest, I'll find literature. And I guess you could argue the weirder, or maybe the less explored the place, the better." Thanks to TinyLetter and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode.  Show notes: georgesaundersbooks.com Saunders on Longform [5:00] Tenth of December (Random House • 2013) [8:45] "George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You'll Read This Year" (Joel Lovell • New York Times Magazine • Jan 2013) [22:45] CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (Random House • 1996) [29:30] "The Great Divider" (GQ • Dec 2006) [30:45] "The New Mecca" (GQ • Nov 2005) [33:00] "The Incredible Buddha Boy" (GQ • Jun 2006) [38:45] George Saunders's Advice to Graduates (May 2013) [47:00] "Tent City, U.S.A." (GQ • Sep 2009) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices