By Bryan Smith
Americans’ growing interest in alternative medicine has helped turn suburban Chicago doctor Joseph Mercola into one of the most popular voices in natural health. So why does he have so many people riled up? Read more
Tag: Long Reads
By David Bernstein and Noah Isackson
LAWBREAKERS, LAWMAKERS: In some parts of Chicago, violent street gangs and pols quietly trade money and favors for mutual gain. The thugs flourish, the elected officials thrive—and you lose. A special report. Read more
By Brian Mockenhaupt
DARK VICTORY: Three years ago, Baskis, then a 22-year-old U.S. Army infantryman, was permanently blinded by a bomb while serving in Iraq. Since then, his life has been a series of challenges, many of them of his own making—including a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. Read more
By Hillel Levin
MASTER FLEECE: At the center of an art fraud ring that circled the globe and operated for decades, the Northbrook man was both an eager peddler of fake prints by famous painters and a wire-wearing informant for federal investigators—twice. Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
FROM DECEMBER 2005: He was an eager young man fresh from Urbana when he started reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times more than three decades ago. His intervening years have featured unimagined success, abiding friendships, too much booze (for a time), the death of a colleague, bouts with cancer, and (rather late) lasting love. His passion for film has made Ebert a bigger star than many of the people he writes about. Read more
By Bryan Smith
LOSS OF INNOCENCE: The star professor dedicated his 29-year career at Northwestern’s journalism school to overturning wrongful convictions and, in doing so, almost single-handedly prompted the end of the death penalty in Illinois. How did he and Medill come to such a bitter and rancorous end—in which no party escaped untarnished? Read more
By Marcia Froelke Coburn
LET THEM EAT CARPACCIO: On the back of Mia Francesca, the modest Italian restaurant in Lake View, Harris has built a dining empire now on the brink of expanding to both coasts. Read more
By Daniel Libit
As Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist in 2008, David Axelrod helped craft a winning message of hope and change. Now he’s back for what he says will be his final political campaign. His game plan for 2012 could determine whether Obama gets to finish what he started—or sees it all slip away Read more
By Bryan Smith
BOUND FOR GLORY: An oral history of how Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and the rest of the 1991 NBA champs learned to play together and started the greatest pro sports dynasty the town has ever seen Read more
By Jonathan Eig
THE TIPPING POINT: This season the soft-spoken Chicago native has blossomed into one of the most dazzling basketball players on the planet. Here's how he did it Read more