Mark Armstrong

A short reading list on the many lives of AOL, which will be acquired by Verizon for $4.4 billion. Fifteen years ago, AOL acquired Time Warner for $165 billion.

Here is a brief reading list of stories by and about Carr, his life and work. It doesn’t even begin to cover it. We will miss him.

A reading list on the life and career of the beloved director.

“As you’d imagine, the phrase offends survivors. It reduces a mass tragedy to the level of banality. Jonestown residents didn’t willingly drink poison—they were forced to do so. Jones gave them a choice: drink cyanide or be shot to death by armed guards. Living was not an alternative.”

10 of our favorite stories from across all of WordPress: Featuring Guernica, Bklynr, Wired, Cincinnati Magazine, and more.

The latest New York Times investigation by C.J. Chivers is about more than just the discovery of old chemical weapons in Iraq—it’s about how shabbily we still treat our troops when they return home.

“I can’t write until I’ve knocked on everybody’s door and tried to talk with everyone who’s even remotely likely to talk. And once I’ve got everything I can possibly get, then I hole up in my room and watch TV on the Internet until my head hurts and it’s not even fun anymore.”

The Ice Bucket challenge has raised millions for ALS research, not to mention awareness about the disease: the motor neuron disorder, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects thousands of Americans. It’s also served as a reminder about the work that Tony Judt did to convey what it was like to live with ALS, in his diary entries for the New York Review of Books.

Here are 10 of our favorite stories right now from Aeon, Grantland, Brooklyn Quarterly, The Awl, Texas Observer and more.

A brief guide to the music business, according to Taylor Swift: Featuring the Wall Street Journal, Planet Money and The New Yorker.