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Our video pick of the day, from 2011.

The story that will make you reconsider law school. Scheiber goes deep inside a big Chicago law firm, Mayer Brown, to examine the problems plaguing the legal profession—including consolidation, cost-cutting, layoffs, infighting, and further degradation of quality of life: “Bob Helman realized the firm would go under if his partners sat around waiting for business […]

What it’s like to grow up as a Muslim in America today. Although Muslims embrace their faith while facing discrimination, they also suffer from anxiety as a result from racial profiling: “For me, this issue is personal. My son was born in America but has an Arabic surname and is growing up bilingual, although we […]

The story of a beautiful rare tree—and the man who took a chainsaw to it. This 2002 New Yorker story by John Vaillant was later expanded into a book, The Golden Spruce: “There was only one giant golden spruce in the world, and, until a man named Grant Hadwin took a chainsaw to it, in […]

Picks from Emily Perper, a freelance editor and reporter currently completing a service year in Baltimore with the Episcopal Service Corps. This week’s picks include stories from the The Rumpus, Tampa Bay Times, Benjamin Carlson, and The New York Times.

How banks influence the commodities markets and make money while raising the prices of consumer goods: “The maneuvering in markets for oil, wheat, cotton, coffee and more have brought billions in profits to investment banks like Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while forcing consumers to pay more every time they fill up a gas […]

A 2006 essay by White House reporter Helen Thomas, who died Saturday at 92, on how the press failed to do its job in the run-up to the Iraq war. She recalls one exchange with former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan: “‘Did we invade those countries?’ “At that point McClellan called on another reporter. […]

If you’ve been following Longreads for a while, you may have seen this excellent Rolling Stone story from last year by Josh Eells, “The Secret Life of Transgender Rocker Tom Gabel”, about Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace’s transition. This MTV House of Style short reveals more about her life, and the small things she’s […]

An in-depth look into the life of the Vice President—and the question of 2016: “‘He wants to be the best vice president ever,’ staffers told me, months ago, when I first started spending time with Joe Biden. That was all the talk last winter. Hillary would almost certainly be the nominee, not Biden, they said, […]

Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. This week’s pick comes from Tyler Jett, who wrote this story for the University of Florida’s Independent Florida Alligator.