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- Cover Story
Death by a Thousand Cuts
The austerity lie that kneecapped the recovery—and the politicians, bankers, and economists who sold it to us
- FEATURES
Free Ride
Silicon Valley whiz kids like Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk rely on taxpayers to turbocharge their businesses. So why do they flip government the bird?
Let My Papers Go!
Publishers make big bucks selling access to taxpayer-funded research. Meet Michael Eisen, the renegade geneticist who aims to set it free.
My Own Private Internet
All over the world, people have connected to DIY wireless networks to save some dough. Can they also block the NSA from stalking your digital life?
Where All the Dems Are Above Average
How Minnesota’s once-woebegone progressives got smart and teamed up to kick the GOP out of the Gopher State
Talk Dirt to Me
Rotting radishes, squirming worms, messy plant residue: the ancient secret that could make industrial agriculture part of the global-warming solution
Revenge of the Swamp
Drilling, toxic gas plumes, collapsing brine wells, and the sinkhole that’s eating Bayou Corne, Louisiana
- Outfront
How to get a gun permit without really trying
I was clueless, hung over, and totally worthless with a firearm. Four hours later, I was officially qualified to pack heat.
Black-market bear paws
The GOP’s high-performing hedge funder
Meet the hard-charging, warship-seizing hedge fund mogul who has become congressional Republicans’ most powerful fundraiser.
For-profit colleges: Screw U?
The for-profit college industry makes a killing while handing out expensive degrees that fizzle in the real world.
Big debt on campus
Back-to-school stats on how rising tuitions and student debt are leaving more grads with doubts about their futures.
- MIXED MEDIA
A swashbuckling spinster novel from Elizabeth Gilbert
The best-selling author on “polite botanists,” the travel bug, and her first new novel in 13 years.
Documentaries, over easy
Chicken & Egg Pictures incubates women filmmakers—and has Oscars to show for it.
This Architectural Life
His hit podcast, “99% Invisible,” reveals the untold stories of things we take for granted.
Musicals for the YouTube era
What happens when highly trained musicians and actors do Broadway and pop culture with a meta twist?
- FOOD + HEALTH
Don’t Get Fresh With Me
Why canned and frozen foods deserve a little respect
Greens Gone Wild
Here’s why you should give weeds a chance.
Cover illustration by Tim O’Brien
Contributors
1 Zohar Lazar, who illustrated this issue’s cover story (“Death by a Thousand Cuts“), is frequently featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times, and GQ.
Michael Mechanic (“Let My Papers Go!”) did lots of lab work to earn a master’s in cellular and developmental biology from Harvard; before photographing open-access innovator Michael Eisen, Andy Reynolds taught himself how to fold origami birds.
2 Dana Liebelson (“Hack to the Future”) likely broke the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act while investigating photo sites that leave kids’ private information vulnerable.
3 Clive Thompson (“My Own Private Internet“) is the author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better.
MoJo food and agriculture correspondent Tom Philpott (“Talk Dirt to Me“) is a cofounder of Maverick Farms in North Carolina; photographer 4 Tristan Spinski was escorted around David Brandt’s farm by Yankee, the family Weimaraner.
When his car died in Louisiana swampland during Mardi Gras, illustrator 5 Bill Mayer (“Revenge of the Swamp“) called for a tow truck—and arranged for a voodoo ceremony.
After reading Eat, Pray, Love, 6 Maggie Caldwell (“Gather No Moss“) was inspired to try meditation while traveling in Varanasi, India. It didn’t work out.
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