The Week’s Best Longreads for March 9, 2013

Nora Ephron’s Final Act
Jacob Bernstein, The New York Times Magazine

The play Lucky Guy, Nora Ephron’s last completed work, is about a journalist who kept striving to do his best work even as he was dying of cancer. He was her inspiration to do the same.

The Myth of Bob Woodward
Max Holland, Newsweek

Why is this man an American icon?

When the Jihad Came to Mali
Joshua Hammer, The New York Review of Books

On the ground during the French intervention.

Back on the Trail
Jason Zengerle, New York

When disgraced former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford decided to run for office again, he asked his ex-wife, Jenny, for her blessing. Whether he has her vote is another matter.

A Church Group, a Lawsuit, and a Culture of Abuse
T.F. Charlton, Religion Dispatches

Inside the growing scandal at Sovereign Grace Ministries.

Roger Ailes Off Camera
Zev Chafets, Vanity Fair

In an excerpt from an upcoming book, the powerful and paranoid Fox News boss talks about his looming death, whether God is partisan, and what he plans to leave his son.

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