The Killing Machines
How to think about drones
September 2013
In This Issue
How to think about drones, killers on Craigslist, the risks of being a workaholic, the courage of The Clash, and more
Features
Did an 8-Year-Old Spy for America?
When U.S. allies in Yemen needed help targeting an alleged al-Qaeda operative for an American drone strike, evidence suggests they turned to one of the people closest to him.
Murder by Craigslist
A serial killer finds a newly vulnerable class of victims: white, working-class men.
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Matt Dorfman How to Catch a Liar on the Internet
Technology makes it easier than ever to play fast and loose with the truth—but easier than ever to get caught.
John Cuneo The U.S. Soldier Who Defected to North Korea
... and now lives in Japan selling crackers
Cristiana Couceiro Is There Really Such a Thing as a 'Workaholic'?
There's still no medical definition, but psychologists try their best to separate dedicated employees from true addicts.
Josue Evilla The Global Dominance of ESPN
Why hasn’t anybody figured out how to beat "The Worldwide Leader in Sports"?
Nishant Choksi How to Edit a Dictionary
What to keep and what to cut? You can start by checking the Internet.
Thomas Porostocky Building a Better Windmill
What if turbines weren’t so awful to be around?
Tim Lahan Why Is Software So Slow?
An interview with software executive Charles Simonyi on why computer applications lag behind hardware, and how new apps could end drudgery
The Real Cost of Segregation—in 1 Big Chart
The geography of race may be more complicated than it appears.
Getty The Maasai People Take Back Their Brand
Reclaiming a name that's used to sell everything from sneakers to beach towels
Leading Questions
What Americans think they believe about the big issues
Nbenbow/Shutterstock Problem: Can I Take My Baby Monitor to the Bar?
Our advice columnist to the rescue
The Culture File
Kevin Christy Joe Strummer and Punk Self-Reinvention
How a privately educated British schoolboy named John Mellor became The Clash's iconic front man
The Rise of Self-Taught Artists
Out is the new in.
Denise Nestor The Architect of School Reform Who Turned Against It
Diane Ravitch's second revolution
Erika Larsen 'I Hate Vacations'
A conversation with Paul Theroux
Fiction
Charles Gullung The Contest
It was the summer of 1958, and the whole town was listening to KLOF, the radio station that was giving away soda pop and a free house in Holiday Hills.
Departments
The Conversation
Responses and reverberations
Graham Roumieu The Big Question
Who was the greatest athlete of all time?
