Vanity Fair

“Leave No Soldier Behind”: The Unsolved Mystery of the Soldier Who Died in the Watchtower

Is the Army botching its investigations into noncombatant deaths?

“The Clock Is Ticking”: Inside the Worst U.S. Maritime Disaster in Decades

A recording salvaged from three miles deep tells the story of the doomed “El Faro,” a cargo ship engulfed by a hurricane.

Did Kamala Harris's Silence on Gaza Cost Her the White House?

Ta-Nehisi Coates reckons with that question, and what it means for the 2028 election.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Kill: Inside the Murder of Solider Barry Winchell

At Fort Campbell, Buzz Bissinger investigates the Catch-22 of Clinton’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy.

East Side Alien

Frederick von Mierers told his elite followers—among them top models and yuppies—that he was from the star Arcturus, here to neutralize "the dark forces." They bought his pitch—and the gems he said would make them New Age lords and duchesses.

House of War

After Ramush Haradinaj led Kosovo’s bloody fight for independence from Serbia, becoming provisional prime minister, he was tried for war crimes by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague. In a clash of 21st-century justice and 15th-century laws, Haradinaj came out the winner.

How U.S. Soldier Jess Cunningham Exposed a War Crime in Iraq

William Langewiesche dissects the murder of four Iraqi prisoners, the military’s response, and how one warrior fought to become a better man.

Karen Read Tells Her Story (Part 1): A Murder Trial in Massachusetts

After John O’Keefe was found, near death, in the snowy front yard of a fellow Boston cop, his girlfriend was arrested. As Karen Read’s second murder trial looms, she’s ready to talk about what she says really happened.

Madoff's World

Among Bernard Madoff's many dupes were his closest friends, including two tycoons he loved as surrogate fathers: the late Norman F. Levy;whose girlfriend, supermodel Carmen Dell'Orefice, would lose her life savings;and the prominent philanthropist Carl J. Shapiro. Amid the sobs, screams, and curses in Aspen, Palm Beach, and New York, with victims sharing their stories, MARK SEAL gets behind Madoff’s affable façade, to reveal his most intimate betrayals

Meet G4S, the Contractors Who Go Where Governments and Armies Can’t—or Won’t

William Langewiesche watches as contractors from the security behemoth clean up after an explosion in a crowded souk in South Sudan.

New York Underground: A Centuries-Old Underworld of Caverns, Squatters, and Unmarked Doors

William Langewiesche follows three men who navigate the dangers of what lies beneath New York.

Nightmare in Neverland

While Michael Jackson was whisked away to detox treatment, the star's lawyers fought a desperate battle to protect him from facing the sexual-abuse charges brought by his 13-year-old accuser. MAUREEN ORTH untangles the whole painful story to provide the definitive account of Jackson's fall, and in it finds a late-20th-century parable of manipulation, corrupted fantasy, and lost innocence

Rules of Engagement

On November 19, 2005, in Haditha, during Kilo Company's third tour of duty in Iraq, a land mine planted by insurgents exploded beneath a Humvee, killing a 20-year-old Marine. What happened next—the slaughter of 24 Iraqi men, women, and children—was not entirely an aberration. These actions were rooted in the very conduct of the war.

Should Airplanes Be Flying Themselves?

Airline pilots were once the heroes of the skies. Today, in the quest for safety, airplanes are meant to largely fly themselves. Which is why the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, which killed 228 people, remains so perplexing and significant. William Langewiesche explores how a series of small errors turned a state-of-the-art cockpit into a death trap.

The 10-Minute Mecca Stampede That Made History

Investigating the most lethal in a long history of Mecca disasters—in 2015, when some 2,400 pilgrims were crushed or trampled to death on their way to the holy city—William Langewiesche reveals the cause: not “God’s will,” as the authorities claim, but the arrogance and dishonesty of the Saudi regime.

The Dark Romance and Grim Reality of Life in the French Foreign Legion

Legionnaires need war, and Afghanistan is winding down. But there's always the hopeless battle against rogue gold miners in French Guiana . . .

The Distant Executioner

During World War II, snipers were seen as a spooky, merciless “Murder Inc.” by other soldiers—the brutal intimacy of their kills made them a breed apart. But in Afghanistan, where avoiding civilian deaths is a top priority, U.S. military sharpshooters may have found the war that needs them most. Going inside the world of Texas Army National Guardsman “Russ Crane,” who has dropped a Taliban fighter at 806 meters, the author discovers the sniper’s special talents and torments, and why it helps, in Crane’s view, to have God on your side.

The Golden Suicides

When Theresa Duncan, 40, took her own life on July 10, followed a week later by her boyfriend, Jeremy Blake, 35, their friends were stunned and the press was fascinated: what had destroyed this glamorous couple, stars of New York’s multi-media art world, still madly in love after 12 years?

True Crime, True Faith: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him

In 1981, a young Christian mother named Margy Palm was abducted by Stephen Morin outside a Kmart. She’s never told the whole shocking story—until now.

US Airways Flight 1549: Anatomy of a Miracle

Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River last January, was justly celebrated for his skill and courage. Less has been revealed about other players in the drama: those enigmatic geese, the engines they struck, a pioneering French engineer, and an unsung hero—the Airbus A320 itself.