Features writer at New York magazine. Contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Author of The Billionaire's Vinegar.
Selected Articles
New York
The Guru Burns Out
Mark Manson sold 12 million copies of his self-help hit. Then he started taking his own advice. June 2022
When Smoke Gets in Your Wine
Growers, vintners, and scientists are scrambling to protect California’s prized Napa Cab from the aftertaste of wildfires. April 2022
How Miami Seduced Silicon Valley
Awash in coders, crypto, and capital, the city is loving—and beginning to shape—its newest industry. September 2021
Scott Rudin in the Wings
As Broadway reopens, its major producer has been banished—perhaps for the good, perhaps permanently. But also, perhaps, not. August 2021
Tech vs. Journalism
Inside the nasty battle between Silicon Valley and the reporters who write about it. May 2021
The Great 21st-Century Treasure Hunt
A decade-long, sometimes maddening, occasionally deadly, brain scrambling search for gold in the American West. November 2020
The Fall of Troy
Hearst hired a belligerent leader to disrupt its magazine business. Then fired him mid-disruption. Now it’s left with—what, exactly? September 2020
Is Anyone Watching Quibi?
The streaming platform raised $1.75 billion and secured a roster of A-list talent, but it can’t get audiences to notice. July 2020
The Prep-School Nazi
Before he was Norman Spear, hate group founder and possible Russian asset Rinaldo Nazzaro was just another Jersey boy. March 2020
American Culthoppers They’ve been juicers, rappers, Evangelicals. One even ran for Congress. But no matter where these brothers go, they can’t quite seem to fit in. July 2017
A Kink in the Hyperloop The dream of zipping from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes has run into a few speed bumps October 2016
The Immortality Pill MIT’s Leonard Guarente is certain he’s succeeded where doctors (and quacks) before him have failed. His pill will either extend lives or tarnish his career August 2016
Perfect Pitch When he wasn’t hanging out with Bradley Cooper, or leasing a horse for Kate Bosworth, or negotiating a Golden Globes shout-out from Christian Bale, or bringing a baby wolf to the office, one Hollywood studio head was talking up the sweetest game in town: the chance to invest in movies that wouldn’t fail. And plenty of people bought what Ryan Kavanaugh was selling. January 2016
Reddit Redux
Steve Huffman co-founded Reddit. Sold Reddit. Watched Reddit grow. Watched Reddit flounder. Watched Reddit mutiny. Now he’s back, to try to save Reddit from itself. October 2015
The Perverse Case of Terry Richardson His transgressive (also: dirty) pictures were celebrated in the fashion world, until they started to be seen as incriminatory evidence. June 2014
Who Killed Michael Hastings?
Reflexively distrustful, eager to make powerful enemies, the young journalist whose Mercedes exploded in Los Angeles one night couldn’t possibly have died accidentally, could he? Finalist for Best Profile, 2014 Mirror Awards November 2013
Is Everyone on the Spectrum?
From Asperger’s to “Asperger’s,” how the autism spectrum became quite so all-inclusive October 2012
What Will the Fashion World Do With Kim Kardashian?
The sweetest Kardashian loves clothes, models clothes, designs clothes, and has become, with her boyfriend, Kanye West, half of the world’s most enthusiastic fashion couple. If only fashion would return the fervor. August 2012
Château Sucker
Rare-wine collectors are savvy, competitive guys with a taste for impossible finds. The biggest hoax in history took place right under their noses. May 2012
The Twee Party
Is artisanal Brooklyn a step forward for food or a sign of the apocalypse? And does it matter when the stuff tastes so good? April 2012
Those Fabulous Confabs
Smart talk has never been such a valuable commodity. It’s spawned conferences like TED, Davos, and now a slew of upstart competitors. It has made the eighteen‑minute TED lecture a viral online phenomenon. But are we running out of things to say? March 2012
The Virgin Father
Trent Arsenault has never had sex, but he’s the father of fifteen children—and counting. The more he antagonizes the FDA, and unnerves television audiences across America, the more his in-box is flooded with requests for his sperm. February 2012
Piers Morgan Isn’t Sleeping Well
CNN’s new Larry King made his name in the scandal-chasing, privacy-invading British tabloid gutter. He’s now ascended to cable-news royalty, though his past is casting a shadow over the coronation. October 2011
The Comeback That Wasn’t
When Martha Stewart returned from prison, the future looked awfully bright. July 2011
The Geek-Kings of Smut After once being the best thing that ever happened to porn, the Internet is now wreaking havoc: destroying some fortunes, making bigger ones, and serving as a stimulus plan, in more ways than one. January 2011
Monetizing the Celebrity Meltdown
Tom Barrack, a billionaire investor who made his fortune in real estate, has discovered a market in distressed celebrities. With Neverland Ranch and Miramax under his belt, he’s now on a shopping spree—and bringing along his buddy Rob Lowe. November 2010
On a Roll How a lobster glut in Maine has democratized, and energized, crustacean cuisine in New York June 2010
The Restaurant Auteur Keith McNally—of the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, Lucky Strike, Pravda, Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller’s, and Minetta Tavern fame—is opening a new restaurant. As usual, he thinks it’s going to be a failure. Winner for Best Profile, 2011 James Beard Awards March 2010
Vanity Fair
Fatal Initiation
Still reeling from the Sandusky scandal, Penn State has a new outrage on its hands: the death of sophomore fraternity pledge Tim Piazza. With 14 members of Beta Theta Pi facing trial for the horrifying events of that night, an investigation of the circumstances that led to the tragedy and its aftermath November 2017
National Lampoon’s Last Laugh?
Over the past 15 years, three devotees of the comedy institution have attempted to restore the humor brand to its former glory. What happened instead was direct-to-video movies, lawsuits, crippling debt, and two prison sentences May 2017
St. George’s Hidden Dragons
How an elite New England prep school’s atonement for its sex-abuse scandals turned ugly August 2016
A Gilded Rage
Did the Princeton preppy murder his hedge-fund dad? April 2015
…And Then He Woke Up
In 1991, a Polish railway worker named Jan Grzebski fell into a coma and slept—for fifteen years. He slept through the final collapse of Communism, through the end of apartheid, and through the births of his eleven grandchildren. The story of a life suspended. January 2009
Is It Worth It? Sampling the finest things on earth May 2008
Hello, Munich! We Are the Hooters
Remembered as an ’80s group with fluffy MTV-friendly coifs, they were always much more interesting than their image, and they’re rocking harder than ever. Five days on the autobahn with Die Hooters… August 2004
Reality Bites Known for immortalizing Princess Di, Pavarotti and, soon, Bill Clinton, Bucks County artist Nelson Shanks had always been hired for his true-to-life portraits. Then he painted one that was a little too true. January 2004
WineFellas The mob wars are over, but there’s a new feud fermenting in South Philly, with clan against clan and red-stained hands. Listen up, boys: Nobody leaves this basement sober. October 2000
Benjamin Wallace 