The Bomb in the BagBy Jack El-Hai, LongreadsHow America’s first suicide attack changed one man’s fortune forever.

The Gangsters of FergusonBy Ta-Nehisi Coates, The AtlanticDarren Wilson was innocent. If only the city's cops offered their own citizens the same due process he received.

Where Rimbaud Found Peace in EthiopiaBy Rachel B. Doyle, New York TimesIn December of 1880, the mercurial French poet Arthur Rimbaud entered the ancient walled city of Harar, Ethiopia, a journey that had involved crossing the Gulf of Aden in a wooden dhow and 20 days on horseback through the Somali Desert. Several years before, the author of the prose poems “A Season in Hell” and “Illuminations” had abruptly renounced poetry and embarked on peregrinations that would take him around Europe, Asia, the Middle East and, finally, Africa.

How is Polio Still a Thing?By Leigh Cowart, Medium’s MatterWe’re so close to eradicating it, but here’s the block: Superstition, suspicion—and the C.I.A.

Break-In at Y-12By Eric Schlosser, New YorkerHow a handful of pacifists and nuns exposed the vulnerability of America’s nuclear-weapons sites.

A Letter From Black AmericaBy Nikole Hannah-Jones, Politico MagazineYes, we fear the police. Here’s why.

The Drug Lord With a Social MissionBy Maia Szalavitz, Pacific StandardMatt Bowden (sometimes known as Starboy, an "interdimensional traveler") helped create one of the most viral outbreaks of new drugs in history. He might also have the antidote.