Original Publication: New York Times Magazine, Spring 2002 “Artem,” I said to my young interpreter in the Tajik city of Dushanbe on a day of particularly fierce “Tajik Torture” –…
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No matter who controls Afghanistan, its opium crop—more than 70 percent of the world’s supply—is creating narco-societies throughout Central Asia, from Russia to Pakistan. In Tajikistan, the author discovers the extent of the region’s drug corruption, which may prove more destructive than any terrorist threat.
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Denise Rich is all about connections: her hit songwriting powered her social aspirations, which powered her fund-raising. Marc Rich is defined by his money, the kind of wealth that moves governments and transcends borders. But despite their bitter divorce, Denise says, what drove her to seek a pardon for her ex-husband from Bill Clinton was a deeply personal tragedy—the death of their daughter. In interviews with Denise, with Marc’s new wife, Gisela, and with the U.S. marshal who spent 14 years trying to bring the financier to justice, Maureen Orth explores the passions behind Clinton’s farewell scandal.
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In 1944, with a temporary commission as a general, 32-year-old reporter Ruth Gruber brought 1,000 World War II refugees to America aboard a U.S. military transport ship. That journey, recounted in her book Haven and now in a CBS mini-series, inspired Gruber’s still-vital career as a warrior of word and image.
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Vladimir Putin, Russia’s new president, won the admiration of his people for his iron grasp on power. Then came the Kursk submarine crisis. Will the Kremlin’s mystery man be able to rein in a massively corrupt oligarchy, or will he wake the ghost of Stalin?
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For wealthy young Hollywood—Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Cameron Diaz, among others—the cool money manager was Dana Giacchetto. But with his breezy accounting, media hotdogging, and risky ventures, such as the multifaceted Paradise Music & Entertainment, the high-flying, Prada-suited 37-year-old appears to have invested way too heavily in glamour.
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