We Still Don’t Know How to Navigate the Cultural Legacy of Eugenics By Audrey Farley Feature From abortion to immigration, a long-debunked scientific movement still casts long, confusing shadows over our most fraught debates.
‘The Underland Is a Deeply Human Realm’: Getting Down with Robert Macfarlane By Tobias Carroll Feature “I thought the underland would be — of all the landscape forms that have drawn me to explore them — the most uninhabited. This proved wildly incorrect.”
All the Obstacles in a Mother’s Way By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Everyone has something to say about this mother’s body, career, and parental choices.
School for Girls By Jasmin Aviva Sandelson Feature Years after recovering from anorexia, Jasmin Sandelson writes a letter to the high school friend she idolized, and explores how hunger, love, and envy shaped — and ended — their relationship.
Don’t Come Around Here No More By Rebecca Lehmann Feature Tom Petty’s psychedelic Alice in Wonderland video reminded one woman of the way sexual harassment shaped her adolescence and made her want to disappear.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Jody Rosen, Reeves Wiedeman, Rebecca Liu, Sara Rimer, and Will Hodge.
‘Brokenness and Holiness Really Go Together’: Darcey Steinke on Menopause By Jane Ratcliffe Feature Darcey Steinke says that most menopause memoirs “end with this come-to-Jesus moment of, ‘Then I accepted hormones.’ I’m not against it, but … I wanted to hear what it’s like for other women.”
Bearing the Weight of My Grandfathers’ Old Clothes By Aram Mrjoian Feature In adopting outerwear worn by the men who came before him, Aram Mrjoian considers his childhood misperceptions of traditional masculinity.
We Could Have Had Electric Cars from the Very Beginning By Longreads Feature Early electric cars performed better in cities than internal combustion vehicles, but didn’t give riders the same illusion of freedom and masculine derring-do.
Concealing a Catastrophe: ‘The Day the Music Burned’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “The vault fire was not, as UMG suggested, a minor mishap, a matter of a few tapes stuck in a musty warehouse. It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business.”
‘They Happen To Be Our Neighbors Across the Span of a Century, But They’re Our Neighbors.’ By Adam Morgan Feature One hundred summers ago, black Chicagoans were terrorized by whites during the Red Summer. Poet Eve Ewing talks about reaching out to her neighbors across time in “1919.”
Father’s Little Helper By Scott Korb Feature While under the influence of Valium, Scott Korb reflects on all the fathers he could have been and the father he has become.
Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid for $195 a Packet? Oh Yeah! By Krista Stevens Highlight “Kool-Ade” debuted in 1927 and has remained popular for over 90 years.
Vacation Memories Marred by the Indelible Stain of Racism By Shanna B. Tiayon Feature Shanna B. Tiayon recalls an interaction with a National Parks Service bus driver that cast a pall on a family trip to the Grand Canyon.
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll By Longreads Feature From Bob Dylan to David Bowie to The Beatles, the legendary Beat writer’s influence reached beyond literature into music in surprising ways.
Caught Between Borders By Annie Hylton and Malia Politzer Feature Closed borders and closed minds are trapping African LGBTI asylum seekers in hostile countries.
Demonology: A Woman’s Right to Fury By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from her new book, Darcey Steinke investigates — and debunks — the demonization of anger within the female body.
It’s Like That: The Makings of a Hip-Hop Writer By Michael Gonzales Feature Hip-hop was a different kind of music that needed a different kind of writer to cover it. This is how Michael A. Gonzales came of age in a time when Black writers began breaking the white ceiling.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Sarah Weinman, Stephen Rodrick, Bianca Giaever, James Ross Gardner, and Megan Pugh.
‘If Any of My Old Friends Are Reading This, It Is Okay Out Here.’ By Jacqueline Alnes Feature Amber Scorah talks about committing the one unforgiveable sin: believing, then not believing.
Sing a Song of Hope: ‘Everything will be all right’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “Like, wow. This is another family I have found.”
Remembering Roky Erickson By Tom Maxwell Feature Despite ongoing personal struggle, the psychedelic rock pioneer left a singular body of work that continues to influence musicians and challenge listeners.
The 19th Century Lesbian Made for 21st Century Consumption By Jeanna Kadlec Feature Jeanna Kadlec considers Anne Lister, the historical figure at the center of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, and the influence of other queer women who preceded her.
How the Cosby Story Finally Went Viral — And Why It Took So Long By Longreads Feature A journalist who reported on the accusations long before they went viral wonders, “What kind of profession am I in, where stories have no logical reason for unfolding?”
Big Problems and Big Paychecks in West Texas Oil Country By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight As the current oil boom attests. West Texas’ oil deposits come with high social and environmental costs.
True Roots By Longreads Feature One woman quits coloring her gray hair and investigates the human and environmental costs of this contentious female beauty standard.
‘What if people found out?’ On the White Male Suicide Epidemic By Krista Stevens Highlight “I got home and went back to the fetal position for a week.”
How One Artist Publicly Dealt With the Aftermath of Her Rape By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight For one woman, holding her employer accountable meant painting the story of her rape on a billboard above a busy LA freeway.
Talk Like an Egyptian By Cary Barbor Feature Cary Barbor traverses language, culture, and class to connect with her new family.
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