The Pink Panthers

by David Samuels

It has become increasingly rare for The New Yorker to print long-form articles, but this one, clocking in at 19 pages, is one of the longest ones I've read in a while.  In it, Samuels explores the Pink Panthers, a loosely-organized group of diamond and gem thieves, mostly believed to be operating out of Serbia and Montenegro.

These thieves have hit multiple jewelery stores in places like Italy, England, France, Japan, and Dubai over the years, and while many have been caught, many more remain free.  Samuels tries to nail down the organizational structure of the group, but this task seems to be impossible.  In all likelihood, the thieves do not have a hierarchy, but operate more like cells, with decentralized groups acting independently.

Like some of the best crime reporting, Samuels re-creates the circumstances of many of the crimes, digs into the past lives of many of the lower-level operatives who have been caught, and travels through some unappealing Balkan regions.  This article is a fascinating read, made all the more human by Samuels's growing affection for some of the players.

Atomic John

by David Samuels

This article is a profile of John Coster-Mullen, an amateur historian who has been working for years on the secrets of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war.

Coster-Mullen has spent most of his life examining photographs, archival records, and random artifacts to put together the most comprehensive record we have of the construction and mechanics of Fat Man and Little Boy.

This article is like many in the New Yorker that focus on truly remarkable people. Samuels travels with Coster-Mullen on his trucking route, and describes their journey together with humor and an impressive eye for detail. He portrays Coster-Mullen as a genius, and a highly focused one at that.

The other interesting point of this article is the ease with which someone could build a working atomic or nuclear bomb. Many of the finer points of the construction of the bombs dropped by the Enola Gay would not concern an organization looking to detonate a suicide bomb, and that is very frightening.