Moderately successful indie rock groups like Grizzly Bear have found it difficult to earn a living that would place them solidly in the middle class: For much of the late-twentieth century, you might have assumed that musicians with a top-twenty sales week and a Radio City show—say, the U2 tour in 1984, after The Unforgettable […]
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Two cold case investigators uncover a serial killer’s trail in Colorado: Yearling turned to his computer and pulled up a map. The site where Ramey’s body was dumped—an area southeast of East 56th Avenue and Havana Street—was now a jumble of loading docks, and strips of asphalt and concrete. The detective typed Ramey’s name into […]
What it’s like for an actor to become a TV commercial megastar—forever associated with a brand, for better and worse: On the day of the audition, roughly 30 actors showed up. When it was Olcott’s turn, he flashed his big, ecstatic smile. The director loved it, and Olcott got the job. In February, on a […]
[Not single-page] An oral history of the TV show “Cheers”: Danson: I’ll tell you about the worst day of my life. Shelley and Rhea were carrying that week’s episode, and the guys were just, ‘Let’s play hooky.’ We’d never done anything wrong before. John had a boat, so we met at Marina del Rey at […]
How musical therapists are helping patients in a care center in southeast London: For about 10 minutes, Gibbes hits the djembe in a 3/4 beat while Prince accompanies him in making what sounds sort of like a flamenco song. Gibbes stares off into space while pushing the song up to its crescendo, then rolling it […]
A look behind-the-scenes at the alleged 2004 search by the Church of Scientology for the next Mrs. Tom Cruise: Nazanin Boniadi, 25, who had not yet become the human-rights activist for Amnesty International and the actor she is today, was summoned in October 2004 to meet an important church official at the Celebrity Centre International, […]
Thirty years after seven people in Chicago died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol, investigators, law enforcement officers, health and public officials, and friends and family members recount how it all unfolded. The perpetrator was never found, and the case was recently reopened: Nurse Jensen The [Janus] family was all at Adam’s house, planning the funeral and […]
How filmmaker David Ayer’s early years in South Central Los Angeles has given him a distinct understanding of the LAPD: ‘I was feral,’ he recalls, ‘uncontrollable, did my own thing. Brushes with the law and all that stuff.’ He punctuates this with a gruff laugh. ‘It was a disaster.’ Most everyone who knew Ayer was […]
Our latest Exclusive comes from the editors of Lapham’s Quarterly. They’ve been longtime contributors to the Longreads community, and this week we’re thrilled to present “Working the Room,” a new essay on humor and the presidency by Michael Phillips-Anderson, from their latest issue, “Politics.” (If you like this, you can subscribe to their print edition […]
Educators at Stanford University are paving the way for the future of online learning by providing free lectures on the Internet, but the idea of a prestigious college providing mass online education for free remains the subject of intense debate: Within days of going online with little fanfare, the three free courses attracted 350,000 registrants […]
[Fiction] A young boy and his nuclear family leave their extended family in a remote village for the city slums: One cold, dewy morning, you are huddled, shivering, on the packed earth under your mother’s cot. Your anguish is the anguish of a boy whose chocolate has been thrown away, whose remote controls are out of […]
Rethinking schizophrenia as a brain disorder that requires medication, and recognizing that part of the cure is looking at the social factors that cause mental breakdowns: By the time I met her, Susan was a success story. She was a student at the local community college. She had her own apartment, and she kept it […]
[Fiction] A story about an unemployed ethnomusicologist, gray whales, and Miranda July: ‘Garfield was my favorite president,’ said Brandon. ‘James A. Garfield?’ said Kara. ‘President from March to July of 1881?’ ‘From Ohio?’ she said. ‘That’s the one,’ said Brandon. He said: ‘I think he would have proven to be an effective leader if he’d […]
The only American designer for high fashion retailer Hermés lives in Waco, Texas—and works as a postal worker: Kermit was sitting in the living room, in an armchair covered by a red-and-white quilt. He stood up when I arrived. He was small-framed, with salt-and-pepper hair combed off his forehead. Dressed in loose khakis and an […]
How much blame for the financial crisis should be placed on people like Robert Rubin, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and Citigroup chairman? A fresh look at the decisions he made: Like many Rubin defenders, Sheryl Sandberg suspects that her mentor has become a scapegoat for events beyond comprehension.’My own view is that, look, these have […]
A look at the 59-year-old Microsoft cofounder who has invested $500 million into the Allen Institute for Brain Science with the goal of decoding how the human brain works: Four years later six brains have been donated and four analyzed to some degree. The project is due to be finished this year, but the first […]
A writer takes a trip to visit his wife’s family. What has changed in the country over the years, and what hasn’t: For obvious reasons, the actual Cuban peso is worth much less than the other, dollar-equivalent Cuban peso, something on the order of 25 to 1. But the driver said simply, ‘No, they are […]
What end-of-life options do the terminally ill have? Should they be offered “aid in dying?” When a patient in the Northeast contacts Compassion & Choices, he is referred to Schwarz, whose first order of business is to find out who the patient is and what his current medical situation entails. Then, Schwarz attempts to get […]
A look at the women who work as “Internet cam girls,” and the criminal activity that may be occurring behind some of the cam networks: ‘Cam sites are ideal for laundering. The studios are being used to have girls online accepting a financed hand that uses ‘dirty’ money to buy the private time. The studio […]
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