Editor’s Pick

Social network CEOs look for wisdom from evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, who pioneered research into human relationships: “A little more than 10 years ago, the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar began a study of the Christmas-card-sending habits of the English. This was in the days before online social networks made friends and “likes” as countable as […]

A writer recalls being 14 and in the closet in 1995: “I had never been more proud of myself. I decided to notice you so no one would notice me, and now I was not only assumed straight, but assumed worthy of conversation. I just had to keep broadcasting straightness loud enough to drown out […]

A prisoner in Connecticut who is protesting his conviction by refusing food is now being force-fed. Is it torture? “Staff turned off the video camera typically used to record medical procedures. They strapped Coleman down at ‘four points’ with seatbelt-like ‘therapeutic’ restraints. Edward Blanchette, the internist and prison medical director at the time, pushed a […]

A political journalist comes home from the campaign trail and reacquaints himself with his children: “During my absence, I left express instructions that my son was not to approach puberty, but as I tie his tie I am met by his deodorant. He’s wearing something called Axe. They use it to repel rioting crowds, I […]

(Via David Carr’s Reddit Q&A) A woman recounts what it was like to be stalked by one man for years—and how police ignored her plea for help: “Ron left frequent answering-machine messages that had no real pattern. Sometimes they were weird, nonsensical treatises, accusatory and rambling, definitely creepy, but not exactly life-threatening. Certainly not enough […]

Coming Tuesday from Frontline: “Inside Obama’s Presidency.” We’ve collected a list of stories from Obama’s first term—share your favorite presidential stories on Twitter with the hashtag #longreads.

Why do we treat student differently than other debt? An argument that it is “a form of social control”: “As states disinvest from public higher education and compel students to take on ever-increasing debt loads to fund their studies, the experience and purpose of higher education is transformed. The pursuit of a college diploma becomes […]

In Israel, people like Naftali Bennett are leading a move to the right: “More broadly, the story of the election is the implosion of the center-left and the vivid and growing strength of the radical right. What Bennett’s rise, in particular, represents is the attempt of the settlers to cement the occupation and to establish […]

Two 32-year-old men attempt to break the record for the farthest anyone has ever flown in a hang glider: “Strong thermals, which are sought and feared, are capable of lifting a hang glider thousands of feet in minutes. Lighter thermals, the ones Martin was hunting, require precise flying to find and then ascend. In most […]

Is a local businessman stalking police in a resort town in Oregon? Or are the police causing the trouble? “On a more sinister level, Foster claims that ever since a particularly divisive community meeting in 2007, in which he says he felt he was finally making headway with local leaders, the police have been actively […]