Nate Berkus has parlayed a taste for simple elegance (and a blessing from Oprah) into a booming design business, and he's done it without losing his sunny charm. Just don't rearrange his t-shirts. Read more
Founded 100 years ago, Chicago's Essanay studio launched the movie careers of Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery and helped a cockney comic named Charlie Chaplin rocket to fame. Read more
Dr. Sheldon Burman was a pioneer in the practice of phalloplasty—surgery to enlarge the penis. He says he was simply giving patients what they wanted. But some of them say he left them scarred and deformed. Read more
Gary Kimmel seemed to be leading a dream life. A gregarious dentist and family man, he had a thriving downtown practice and a beautiful young wife and children. Then one day the FBI showed up and made some stunning allegations. Read more
Five months after three-year-old Riley Fox of Wilmington was brutally murdered, her father, Kevin, confessed following a long night with Will County detectives. He recanted almost immediately, but spent eight months in jail before DNA evidence led to his release. For the first time publicly, Kevin and his wife, Melissa, talk about their ordeal, an account of pain, mystery, and undying faith, wrapped around an enduring tragedy Read more
After an idyllic Midwestern upbringing, Joe Mansueto founded an enormously successful financial information company on the simple premise that people might like an easy-to-use guide to mutual funds. Now, the Morningstar CEO is turning his skills to the risky world of magazine publishing. Can he succeed again? Read more
Barbara Hermansen found happiness and fulfillment as a North Shore wife, mother, and lawyer—until she started taking a prescription drug for a neurological disorder. Then a trip to Las Vegas set off a crazed gambling addiction that almost brought her and her family down. Read more
Things could not be better for Rod Blagojevich. He loves politics, and he has won every election he has entered (with help from his father-in-law, a clout-heavy alderman). The govenorship is his focus now, he insists, but this look at his personal history suggests he hopes for much, much more. Read more