Falling Stars: On Taking Down Our Celebrity Icons By Soraya Roberts Feature Celebrities act as a symbol of capitalism. When we question it, we question them too. Friends: We Need Your Help to Fund More Stories
Reimagining Harper Lee’s Lost True Crime Novel: An Interview with Casey Cep By Adam Morgan Feature “Somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that I was writing the book she never would.”
The Omen of the Wasps’ Nest By Marlene Adelstein Feature As she prepares to leave the home she shared with her ex, Marlene Adelstein finds herself fixated on the husk of a nest hanging in the yard.
There Is No Other Way To Say This By Melissa Batchelor Warnke Feature “Tell them on the outside,” Carolyn Forché’s Salvadoran mentor instructed her. Her memoir is her latest attempt. Its elliptical lyricism, like that of her poetry, runs circles around censorship.
‘Someone Took Care to Get it Right’: The Birds of the Seven Kingdoms By Krista Stevens Highlight On the delightfully nerdy role of birds and bird calls in Game of Thrones.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Drew Magary, Amy Wallace, Leif Reigstad, Pam Houston, and Ziya Tong.
From the Sewer to the Syringe By Katie Kosma Highlight Biomedical researchers find remedies for antibiotic-resistant infections in grody places.
This Month In Books: ‘What Creates That Need To Leap?’ By Dana Snitzky Commentary This month’s books newsletter has one foot out the door.
Why Can’t California Public Schools Quit Teaching a Eurocentric Version of State History? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Despite decades of effort, activists are still trying to get California public schools to teach an accurate history of the state’s indigenous people and the cruelties of European settlement.
‘Buried in the Cowboy Way, with His Tail to the Wind’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “There was no chance I was going to ask him to make another winter, but as long as he was hobbling to his golf course and chortling to me each morning, it seemed too early to end his life.”
On “Art Heroes” and Letting Your Idols Be Human By Alex Difrancesco Feature What one fan learned through being disappointed and comforted by Nick Cave’s The Red Hand Files.
I’m Not Queer to Make Friends By Logan Scherer Feature By Trying on the Role of Reality TV Villain, Logan Scherer Confronts His Gay Shame
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers By Longreads Feature From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
Game of Crones By Laura Lippman Feature It wasn’t entirely Laura Lippman’s idea to become a mother in her 50s. But when it happened, she leaned in hard.
To Grieve Is to Carry Another Time By Matthew Salesses Feature Matthew Salesses considers the impact of his wife’s passing, and other factors, on his experience as a human passing through the fourth dimension.
The Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store By Joe Fassler Feature American food supplies are increasingly channeled through a handful of big companies: Amazon, Walmart, FreshDirect, Blue Apron. What do we lose when local supermarkets go under? A lot — and Kevin Kelley wants to stop that.
When Did Pop Culture Become Homework? By Soraya Roberts Feature When art is a should or a must or a have to, when we turn it into a chore, it is the opposite of what art is supposed to be.
Critics: Endgame By Soraya Roberts Feature If there’s no earth, there’s no art. How do you engage in cultural criticism at the end of the world?
The Joy of Watching (and Rewatching) Movies So Bad They’re Good By Michael Musto Feature Michael Musto sings the praises of his favorite cinematic clunkers.
Reimagining Harper Lee’s Lost True Crime Novel: An Interview with Casey Cep By Adam Morgan Feature “Somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that I was writing the book she never would.”
There Is No Other Way To Say This By Melissa Batchelor Warnke Feature “Tell them on the outside,” Carolyn Forché’s Salvadoran mentor instructed her. Her memoir is her latest attempt. Its elliptical lyricism, like that of her poetry, runs circles around censorship.
This Month In Books: ‘What Creates That Need To Leap?’ By Dana Snitzky Commentary This month’s books newsletter has one foot out the door.
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers By Longreads Feature From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
High Expectations: LSD, T.C. Boyle’s Women, and Me By Christine Ro Feature “Outside Looking In” dramatizes the discovery of LSD and the cult of personality surrounding Timothy Leary. Our reviewer drops acid and thinks about how, for women, it can be safer to be a downer.
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers By Longreads Feature From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
Editors Roundtable: Violence of Men, Money, and Space (Podcast) By Longreads Commentary Catherine Cusick, Kelly Stout, Ethan Chiel, and Aaron Gilbreath discuss stories by Wil S. Hylton, Josephine Livingstone, Jesse Barron, and Rivka Galchen.
Editors Roundtable: Alma Matters, Raisin Hell, and Upstairs Cocaine (Podcast) By Longreads Commentary This week, we’re discussing stories in The Cut, Vulture, The New York Times, Topic, and The Atavist.
Canada’s Breeding Ground for Hate By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How Canada’s new, educated, organized far-right has been using a video game app to try to influence mainstream politics and create a white ethno-state.
The Growing Power of Prosecutors By Hope Reese Feature An unintended consequence of mandatory minimums has been to concentrate too much power in the hands of prosecutors. Journalist Emily Bazelon talks about how some cities are pushing back.
The Omen of the Wasps’ Nest By Marlene Adelstein Feature As she prepares to leave the home she shared with her ex, Marlene Adelstein finds herself fixated on the husk of a nest hanging in the yard.
Falling Stars: On Taking Down Our Celebrity Icons By Soraya Roberts Feature Celebrities act as a symbol of capitalism. When we question it, we question them too.
There Is No Other Way To Say This By Melissa Batchelor Warnke Feature “Tell them on the outside,” Carolyn Forché’s Salvadoran mentor instructed her. Her memoir is her latest attempt. Its elliptical lyricism, like that of her poetry, runs circles around censorship.
I’m Not Queer to Make Friends By Logan Scherer Feature By Trying on the Role of Reality TV Villain, Logan Scherer Confronts His Gay Shame
‘Little Grandpa’ and The List By Abigail Rasminsky Feature When her grandfather died, Abigail Rasminsky learned about a part of his life she’d known nothing about.