The Week’s Best Longreads for June 29, 2013

The Last Mystery of the Financial CrisisMatt Taibbi, Rolling StoneIt’s long been suspected that ratings agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s helped trigger the meltdown. A new trove of embarrassing documents shows how they did it.

A Deadly Triangle William Dalrymple, Brookings InstitutionAn eminent historian looks to the present and future of Afghanistan—and its potential to set off the India-Pakistan time bomb—as the U.S. withdraws from the longest war in its history.

A Black Soviet Icon’s Lonely American SojournCarl Shreck, RIA NovostiFor decades Jim Patterson was arguably the most famous black man in the Soviet Union, a debonair homegrown poet whose childhood role in an iconic film cemented his celebrity and who later roamed the vast country reading his work to adoring audiences. Now, he’s languishing in Washington, D.C.

The Lyme WarsMichael Specter, The New YorkerThe Lyme-disease infection rate is growing. So is the battle over how to treat it.

A Cross-Country Identity ThiefMaureen O’Hagan, The Seattle TimesThe death of a wife and mother in Texas revealed a case of stolen identity with a connection to the Northwest. Now a Seattle investigator is trying to figure out who this mystery woman really was.

You Listen to This Man Every Day Andrew Romano, NewsweekRick Rubin got Black Sabbath to return to its roots. He crashed Kanye’s new album in 15 days. From Def Jam to Adele, the hit-maker gets intimate about his last 30 years—and how he’s about to make history.

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