Funny. For the past few years, I've been an avid evangelist of the articles written by both New Yorker and Vanity Fair (I'm not seeing any references to this one in the article or here in the comments. Don't balk at the name or genre, they have some of the very best feature articles on the most random topics that I have ever come across). People called me crazy.

The Economist has been mentioned here in the comments, but while good, it does not compare in terms of length and sheer quality to the offerings by these two. Apples and oranges, really.