UPDATE: Read the full Jahar Tsarnaev cover story here. 
 
 In the new issue of Rolling Stone, contributing editor Janet Reitman delivers a deeply reported account of the life and times of Boston bomber Jahar Tsarnaev. Reitman spent the last two months interviewing dozens of sources – childhood and high school friends, teachers, neighbors and law enforcement agents, many of whom spoke for the first time about the case – to deliver a riveting and heartbreaking account of how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster. Here are five revelations about Tsarnaev from our latest cover story, "Jahar's World": 
 
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 • As Jahar lay in the boat, surrounded by SWAT teams and police, FBI negotiators mentioned a public plea for his surrender from his former wrestling coach. An agent on the scene later told the coach that it could have been this name from the past – and the memory of that past – both of which were invoked during the standoff, that convinced Jahar to ultimately give up. 
 
 • Around 2008, Jahar’s older brother Tamerlan confided to his mother that he felt like "two people" were inside him. She confided this to a close friend who felt he might need a psychiatrist, but Zubeidat believed that religion would be the cure for her son’s inner demons and growing mental instability, and pushed him deeper into Islam. 
 
 • Jahar's high school, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, is famously diverse, but Jahar played down the fact that he was a Muslim. As his brother and mother became more religious, he did, however, attend a small Friday prayer group that met at lunchtime, and once got quite upset when a friend who'd converted to Islam talked about it in a casual way. "Islam wasn't casual to Jahar," says one friend. "He took his religion seriously." 
 
 • Jahar shared few details of his troubled home life with even his closest friends. In the months leading up to the bombing, his family had disintegrated. His parents were both living in Russia. His two older sisters were estranged. Only Tamerlan, who was becoming increasingly devout and judgmental of all non-Muslims, was still in Boston. When one of Jahar’s friends asked to meet Tamerlan, Jahar said, "No, you don't want to meet him." 
 
 • Jahar never spoke about 9/11. Once, though, he let slip to a high school friend that he thought the terrorist attacks could be justified, and pointed to US policies towards Muslim countries and US drone strikes and other attacks as his rationale. ||||| The August issue of Rolling Stone hasn't even hit newstands yet, but its cover is already stirring up controversy on social media. 
 
 On the front of the magazine is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving member of the duo of brothers alleged to have carried out the attacks on the Boston Marathon. 
 
 Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the blasts. 
 
 The cover story is titled "Jahar's World" and is described as "a riveting and heartbreaking account of how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster." 
 
 Not surprising is the swift — and mostly negative — reaction to the cover's depiction of Tsarnaev, and Rolling Stone is already taking plenty of heat on its Facebook page. 
 
 Here's some of the reaction so far: 
 
 "Why give the guy the cover of Rolling Stone? TIME gave Charles Manson the cover and all the magazines carried pictures of the Columbine shooters on the covers, too. Don't make martyrs out of these people." 
 
 ... 
 
 "Very un-American. F--k you Rolling Stone. I thought it was supposed to be an honor to be on your cover?" 
 
 ... 
 
 "I shared this on my news feed, but not in support of your magazine, I shared it to show people how low you have gone by putting this terrorist on your cover. Rolling Stone, go and read all the shares of your picture, there are a lot of angry people that you would make such a disgusting choice." 
 
 It should be noted that this isn't the first time the Tsarnaev "selfie" has made its way onto a front page. The New York Times ran it on May 5: 
 
 That Dzhokhar selfie on the Rolling Stone cover was everywhere at the time. It was on the front page of the Times! pic.twitter.com/ix0KreMst7 — Stefan Becket (@stefanjbecket) July 17, 2013 
 
 On the other hand, this is Rolling Stone. The implied comparison of a suspected terrorist to rock stars, pop culture icons, and celebrities is striking – and distressing – to many.
– Controversial might be too weak a word: Rolling Stone's latest cover star is accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The decision to feature a glossy image of the alleged criminal on the front of millions of magazines has not gone down well with many, who have taken to Rolling Stone's Facebook page to protest by the thousands, reports Business Insider. A sampling of the more polite reactions: "Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs, should be on cover." "I am ending my subscription. ... Who's next, George Zimmerman?? Rolling Stone is a music magazine, not the Taliban Times. " "Can we get 1 million likes to have this issue pulled...!!!" "Wow, putting this guy on the cover of a pop culture magazine in a Jim Morrison pose? Way to perpetuate the notion that crimes on this level will garnish attention for sociopaths who are out to seek it. This is sickening..." Despite accusations it is glorifying Tsarnaev by making him a cover star, Rolling Stone promises the story, which appears in the Aug. 1 issue, is a "deeply reported" and "heartbreaking account of how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster." In a teaser for "Jahar's World," it drops several bits from the story, amongst them: It was a plea from Tsarnaev's wrestling coach that may have ultimately convinced him to surrender; Tsarnaev downplayed his Islamic faith in high school, but a friend says even then, "He took his religion seriously"; and he once told a high school friend he thought 9/11 could be justified due to US attacks on Muslim countries and actions such as drone strikes.