Longform

Inspired by a flubbed prison escape, the Barkley Marathon is a ludicrously challenging 100-mile race only a handful of runners have completed. Finishing it twice? That's next to impossible.

How an architect revolutionized the basketball shoe.

PECK: AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY ; WHALE: STEPHEN FRINK COLLECTION/ALAMY

Herman Melville had everything a young author could dream of. Then he wrote Moby-Dick and ruined everything.

To save an endangered species, scientists have to play the part.

Patricia Highsmith's most memorable supervillain was inspired by a chance encounter. But how fictional was he really?

All it took to locate the bones of Richard III was 500 years, a psychic vision, and a grassroots movement.

The long-running game show is adored by millions. But there was a time—and another time, and one more time—when questions swirled around its survival.