It Happened in Hitsville, by Lisa Robinson (December 2008)
After half a century, and several shelves of books about the revolutionary music label, Motown’s story is still obscured by rumors and misconceptions. Founder Berry Gordy Jr. joins a groundbreaking chorus—Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Suzanne de Passe, and other legends—to give an oral history of the Detroit hitmaking machine and the cultural and racial breakthroughs it inspired.
How the Web Was Won, by Keenan Mayo and Peter Newcomb (July 2008)
Fifty years ago, the U.S. military set up the Advanced Research Projects Agency. It would become the cradle of connectivity, spawning the era of Google and YouTube, of Amazon and Facebook, of the Drudge Report and the Obama campaign. Here, the people who made it happen tell the story.
When Washington Was Fun, by Maureen Orth (December 2007)
The grand hostesses are history, the president would rather be in bed, and there’s a price tag on every evening these days. Who killed Washington society? Ask a few of the local experts.
Simpson Family Values, by John Ortved (August 2007)
A cartoon family whacked America’s funny bone in 1989, eventually becoming the longest-running TV comedy ever. Not everyone involved—including the writers, the voices, and Rupert Murdoch—agrees on what has made it a pop phenomenon.
The Gossip Behind the Gossip, by Frank DiGiacomo (December 2004)
Anonymous tips, political agendas, raging lawyers, outrageous sex stories—so goes life at “Page Six,” the New York Post gossip column Rupert Murdoch ordered up in 1977. Listening to staffers, sources, and subjects, an alumnus chronicles the feuds, scoops, and characters that have made the column as powerful as the boldfaced names it covers.
It’s Saturday Night!, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (September 2002)
More than a quarter-century after Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC, its alumni have ascended to the pantheon of American comedy. In an excerpt from Live from New York, Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller hear from cast members, producer Lorne Michaels, and celebrity hosts about the feuds, the love affairs, the drugs, and the tragic deaths.
Birth of an MTV Nation, by Robert Sam Anson (November 2000)
With hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, MTV is a cultural phenomenon, a force that has changed the worlds of fashion, movies, and music itself. But in 1981, when a small band of men and women started the first 24-hour music channel, no one was interested—except the kids.
