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Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. Here’s this week’s pick.

Gangs in Chicago have used social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to spread inflammatory messages about rivals and incite violence: “We naturally associate criminal activity with secrecy, with conspiracies hatched in alleyways or back rooms. Today, though, foolish as it may be in practice, street gangs have adopted a level of transparency that might […]

How the world of politics works. MacGillis tells the story of Doug Band, who rose up to become one of President Clinton’s most trusted advisers, until his own business interests got in the way: “Of course, it was only natural that Band would tap his existing network. What is striking is the extent to which […]

This week’s Member Pick is “My Family Tree, in Black and White,” a new personal essay by Dionne Ford and More magazine. The below story comes from the magazine’s September issue, which is not yet online. We’d like to thank Ford and More for sharing it with the Longreads Member community. Read an excerpt here. […]

An art dealer diagnosed with kidney cancer formulates a plan to bury some of his treasure and leave clues to its whereabouts in a self-published book: “Dal Neitzel is just one of hundreds of people who have contacted Fenn to let him know they’ve been searching for his haul. Before he set out, after poring […]

The writer on her experience moving halfway around the world for a relationship and a new life: “I said ‘yes’ to moving but I hadn’t really said “yes” to a location. Because Russell was an urban planner, with experience that was in high demand, he could work almost anywhere. He had been a Peace Corps […]

This week we’re excited to introduce First Chapters, a new series on Longreads dedicated to sharing your favorite first chapters, nonfiction or fiction, past or present. Our first pick comes from Longreads contributing editor Julia Wick, who has chosen Janet Fitch’s 1999 novel White Oleander. If you want to recommend a First Chapter, let us […]

Inside Air Force One moments after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963: “2:02 P.M. “Judge Hughes has been found. She is on her way. “In the passenger cabin, Stoughton, the White House photographer, approaches Liz Carpenter and Marie Fehmer. He is sweating and ashen. ‘You must go in and tell […]

New reading list from Emily Perper featuring picks from Utne Reader, The New Inquiry, Refinery 29, and Newsweek.

All of a writer’s fears, in one place. Ford reflects on writing out of a hole, and what keeps him from “going full-bore bananacakes” with his work: “I have dug a number of limbic trenches, mental pathways that lead to stress and anxiety. I have a mixed (but steadily improving) record on substances, especially food. […]