The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist.
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1. Why the Best War Reporter in a Generation Had to Suddenly Stop

Mark Warren | Esquire | Sept. 14, 2015 | 21 minutes (5,464 words)

After 14 bloody years of covering conflict for The New York Times, C.J. Chivers had established himself as one of the foremost war reporters of his generation. And then he decided to come home.

2. The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Atlantic | Sept. 14, 2015 | 75 minutes (18,800 words)

“Our carceral state banishes American citizens to a gray wasteland far beyond the promises and protections the government grants its other citizens. Banishment continues long after one’s actual time behind bars has ended, making housing and employment hard to secure. And banishment was not simply a well-intended response to rising crime. It was the method by which we chose to address the problems that preoccupied [Daniel Patrick] Moynihan, problems resulting from ‘three centuries of sometimes unimaginable mistreatment.’”