When malls still ruled retail, a fashion brand for young women defied pre-internet era practice: It had no brick and mortar stores, only a catalog. It became the hottest thing around, selling a lifestyle as much as products, and its business model foretold the future. So why did it fail?
2019
Normal Sucks: Author Jonathan Mooney on How Schools Fail Kids with Learning Differences
“We are in a sort of remediation industrial complex.”
The Guy who Ordered a Hit On His Stepmother for $5
Death, delivered as per your instructions.
Click Here to Kill
Unsurprisingly, you can order a hit on someone using forums on the dark web geared to undertaking any heinous task for money. Some of these sites are known scams, designed to fleece the hit orderer for whatever amount they’re willing to pay. Others are sadly, for real.
The Terror Queue
“It felt like you were putting on a cape, working at Google, getting your free kombucha, sleeping in nap pods,’ she says. ‘But every once in a while, you’d have to see some disturbing content. Really, how bad could it be?’ She called her mom and said she was taking the job. She was 23 […]
What’s Wrong With Me?
Autoimmune disease occurs when the body attacks the very thing it was supposed to protect — you. Meghan O’Rouke found herself grappling with what remains one of the most mysterious categories of disease.
‘You’re My Present This Year’: An Oral History of the Folgers Incest Ad
Oh please, like you didn’t think it.
Longreads Best of 2019: Profiles
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in profiles.
‘They Were Growing Seedlings…Which Would Sprout To Become Supreme Court Justices’
Ruth Marcus discusses the Federalist Society’s 30-year Justice-grooming project, the botched investigations, and everything else that brought us “too big to fail” Brett Kavanaugh.
Queens of Infamy: Mariamne I
In the ancient hot mess known as Judea, a young queen had to navigate a self-destructive royal dynasty and one of history’s worst husbands.
