Salt, Sugar, Fat, Repeat: A Reading List on Restaurant Chains

Here are some of our favorite reads on America’s restaurant chains, from the generically upscale to the proudly down-home. They cover politics, economics, regional identity, and even (surprise!) food.

Source: Longreads
Published: Oct 26, 2016

On Barbs and Demogorgons: A Stranger Things Reading List

Whether you’re still high on the show’s well-calculated nostalgia or already experiencing symptoms of Upside Down withdrawal, here’s a two-part selection of stories to keep you going: from deep dives into the design of the show’s title sequence to a sprawling interview with its creators.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 17, 2016

Unattributed: A Reading List on Plagiarism

Here are six meaty reads on plagiarism: from deep dives into infamous recent cases to essays that question the very possibility of writing that isn’t, to some extent, an act of unattributed borrowing.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 20, 2016

Day Care (and Its Discontents): A Reading List

Child care is a minefield of a topic, and navigating it inevitably detonates questions of class and gender, labor and social justice. It’s where politics and geography become not just personal, but also emotional (and, sometimes, heartbreaking). Here are eight stories about day care: a place working parents know all too well, but never quite well enough.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 22, 2016

Back in the USSR: A Reading List

The stories in this reading list — from a haunting travelogue through an abandoned Soviet mining town in the Arctic to Boym’s account of Moscow’s 850th anniversary celebrations in 1997 — take us on a ride through the park’s gaudily uncanny landscapes.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 1, 2015

‘The World Is Full of Obvious Things’: A Sherlock Holmes Reading List

From Sherlockian cosplay in the Swiss alps to a family’s archives in Illinois, here are five stories that speak to the ubiquity and longevity of one Victorian detective.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 1, 2015

The Art of Authenticity: A Conversation with PostSecret’s Frank Warren

For the past ten years Frank Warren has been collecting and publishing other people’s anonymous secrets, sent via postcard, on his blog, PostSecret. The stories behind the postcards span the entire spectrum of human drama, from tales of petty revenge to accounts of abuse and severe depression.

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 19, 2015
Length: 13 minutes (3,354 words)

Really Old Stuff: A Reading List About Our Prehistoric Past

From an aspen colony that has been cloning itself for over 80,000 years to a coral reef fossilized eons ago, these stories bring to life irretrievable worlds and challenge our notions of time and durability.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jan 21, 2015

The Walls of Berlin: A Reading List

Four stories about the Berlin Wall, from its creation to the memories it has helped shape, to mark the 25th anniversary of its fall.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 11, 2014