Longform

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer for National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. His new podcast is Chameleon: Scam Likely.

“I want a crumpled piece of paper where there are enough ridges and valleys and lines for me to be able to navigate, and they have to be authentic. And then of course the best stories among them will have surprise and intrigue, and things that are completely unexpected happen somewhere along the way. But it's hard to anticipate all of that. You still have to have a little bit of faith.”

Show notes:

• @Yudhijit
• yudhijit.com
• Bhattacharjee on Longform
• Bhattacharjee’s National Geographic archive
• Bhattacharjee’s New York Times archive
• 03:00 "Who’s Making All Those Scam Calls?" (New York Times Magazine • Jan 2021)
• 06:00 "The Downfall of India’s Kidney Kingpin" (Discover Magazine • Aug 2010)
• 09:00 Natalie Angier’s New York Times archive
• 09:00 George Johnson’s New York Times archive
• 09:00 Gina Kolata’s New York Times archive
• 18:00 Bhattacharjee’s Science archive
• 26:00 "The Man Who Captures Criminals for the D.E.A. by Playing Them" (New Yorker • July 2018)
• 29:00 "My Father and Me: A Spy Story" (GQ • June 2012)
• 29:00 The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell (Penguin Random House • 2016)

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Brian Reed and Hamza Syed are co-hosts of the new podcast The Trojan Horse Affair.

“I had lost all faith in the reporting that already happened on the subject matter. And that was my mentality with each source and each interviewer. I wanted the debate ended in the room because I didn't want commentary beyond it. I didn't want any kind of interpretation beyond it. I wanted the situation to be resolved there and then.... And without certain answers, I thought we weren't going to be able to speak about this matter in the way that I wanted to speak about it.” —Syed

“I both desperately wanted to know the answer of who wrote the letter, but kind of understood that we probably weren't going to get it beyond a shadow of a doubt. And I thought that I had transmitted that to Hamza and that he understood that. But as time went on, I realized that he had not accepted that as the likely outcome. And this is what was actually so energizing to work with you, Hamza. You never let your hope and desire and hunger to get that answer ever get dimmed. Like, ever.” —Reed

Show notes:

• @BriHReed
• @HamzaMSyed
• Reed on Longform Podcast
• 00:00 S-Town (Serial Productions • 2017)
• 01:00 The Trojan Horse Affair (Serial Productions • 2022)
• 21:56 "Trojan Horse Primary Barred Muslims from Easter Classes, Tribunal Hears" (Richard Adams • The Guardian • Dec 2015)
• 49:00 Serial: Season Three (Serial Productions • 2018)

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Hannah Goldfield is the food critic at The New Yorker.

“There are just only so many ways to say ‘crunchy.’ There's ‘crunchy,’ there's ‘crisp,’ there's ‘crispy,’ you can say something ‘crackles,’ and that's kind of it. It's really, really hard. And a lot of things are crunchy. It's a really specific sensation that needs to be described. But I've had moments where I'm like, I can't say crunchy again in a sentence. What am I going to do? How do I get this across?”

Show notes:

• @hannahgoldfield
• Goldfield’s New Yorker archive
• 02:00 My Best Friend’s Wedding (P.J. Hogan • Sony • 1997)
• 03:00Ruth Reichl's New York Times archive
• 09:00 Ratatouille (Brad Bird • Disney • 2007)
• 10:00 Garlic and Sapphires (Ruth Reichl • Penguin Random House • 2005)
• 15:00 "The Pandemic-Proof Atmosphere of the Odeon Outside" (New Yorker • Oct 2020)
• 15:00 "The Odeon Responds to the New Yorker" (Lynn Wagenknecht • Tribeca Citizen • Nov 2020)
• 22:00 "The Glorious Fish and Chips at Dame" (New Yorker • Jan 2021)
• 27:00 "Burmese Food and a Hopeful Vision at Yun Café & Asian Mart" (New Yorker • Sept 2020)
• 35:00 "How Kim Kardashian Is Bringing Buzz (and Business) to Staten Island" (Alyson Krueger • New York Times • May 2022)

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Ken Burns is a documentary filmmaker whose work includes The Vietnam War, Baseball, and The Central Park Five. His new series is Country Music. “History, which seems to most people safe — it isn’t. I think the future is pretty safe, it’s the past that’s so terrifying and malleable.” Thanks to Mailchimp, Vistaprint, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode. @KenBurns kenburns.com [01:08] The Vietnam War (2017) [01:12] Country Music (2019) [04:58] Salesman (1969) [09:04] Jazz (2001) [13:45] The Civil War (1990) [13:48] Baseball (1994) [13:55] The War (miniseries • 2007) [13:57] The National Parks (2009) [14:00] The Roosevelts (2014) [44:49] Odd Man Out (1947)

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Michael Lewis is the author of several bestselling books and the host of the podcast Against the Rules. “I think anything you do, if it’s going to be any good, there’s got to be some risk involved. I think the reader or the listener will sense that you were taking chances and it will excite them. So, you never want to do the same thing twice, and you don’t want to cling to something because it’s the safe thing. I try to keep that in mind. Ok, I started with this, but if I push off shore clinging to this life raft or this floatation device and I get way out of swimming range of the beach, but I find this more interesting flotation device, have the nerve to jump from one to the next. You never know where it’s going to lead.” Thanks to MailChimp, Going Through It, Green Chef, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode. Lewis's author site Lewis on Longform [1:40] Against the Rules with Michael Lewis [4:55] The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (W. W. Norton & Company • 2007 [9:50] The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (W. W. Norton & Company • 2011) [11:10] The Fifth Risk (W. W. Norton & Company • 2018) [11:40] Revisionist History [13:15] Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (W. W. Norton & Company • 2004) [14:35] The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds (W. W. Norton & Company • 2016) [14:50] Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (W. W. Norton & Company • 2010) [27:10] How I Got Into College (This American Life • 2013) [30:00] Ref, You Suck! (Against the Rules • 2019)

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