Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist.
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1. The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase’s Worst Nightmare
Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone | Nov. 6, 2014 | 24 minutes (6,027 words)
Whistleblower Alayne Fleischmann wants JPMorgan Chase held accountable for massive securities fraud. She says Chase and the Justice Department have taken actions to silence her.
2. Finding Marlowe
Daniel Miller | Los Angeles Times | Nov. 1, 2014 | 12 minutes (3,000 words)
Did Samuel B. Marlowe—Los Angeles’ first licensed black private detective—provide the inspiration for Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, two of noir’s most iconic characters?
3. Collapse: The Oso Mudslide and the Community That Survived It
Brooke Jarvis | Seattle Met | Nov. 3, 2014 | 22 minutes (5,702 words)
The story of a community that formed a search and rescue crew after one of the deadliest landslides in U.S. history struck their town.
4. The Myth of Chinese Super Schools
Diane Ravitch | New York Review of Books | Nov. 2, 2014 | 16 minutes (4,094 words)
Diane Ravitch on the politics of education reform and testing in America, and a review of Yong Zhao’s book on China’s history of testing: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World.
5. Dunkin’ and the Doughnut King
Greg Nichols |The California Sunday Magazine | Nov. 3, 2014 | 23 minutes (5,861 words)
Ted Ngoy overcame poverty, escaped genocide and made a fortune off of doughnuts. Examining the history of doughnut shops in California, most of which are owned by Cambodian Americans.
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