The Hidden History of the Nutmeg Island That Was Traded for Manhattan

Back when Indonesia’s tiny Banda Islands were thought to be the world’s only source of this curative spice, the Dutch murdered and enslaved the Indigenous people to create a nutmeg monopoly. What few accounts mention is how the Bandanese people had already cornered the nutmeg market, and that their trading operations outlasted the colonists.

Author: Mark Hay
Source: Atlas Obscura
Published: Feb 28, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,702 words)

Even the Dogs

In an excerpt from her memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, T Kira Madden recalls a harrowing adventure with her parents.

Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 4, 2019
Length: 7 minutes (1,940 words)

The Real Danger on the Promenade

After coming out, Steffan Triplett considers rekindling a broken friendship, dancing with danger and mystery in a secluded area on the edge of town.

Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 1, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,080 words)

The Secrets of the World’s Greatest Art Thief

Stéphane Breitwieser stole over 300 objects, stolen from 200 different locations, worth over $1.4 billion. Brashly. Brazenly. Constantly. Why? They art was beautiful.

Source: GQ
Published: Feb 28, 2019
Length: 35 minutes (8,864 words)

The Psychiatrist Who Believed People Could Tell the Future

After people predicted a mining disaster, a psychiatrist began collecting premonitions, and a startling number turned out to be true. To his horror, one seer predicted the psychiatrist’s own death. He spent years looking over his shoulder, living a life that begged the question: can you scare yourself to death?

Author: Sam Knight
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Mar 4, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,011 words)

My Mother’s Daughter

In this personal essay, Molly Jong Fast considers her famous parents’ and grandparents’ tendencies toward infidelity, and how she is still affected, as an adult child.

Published: Feb 26, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,412 words)

Inside the Secret Sting Operations to Expose Celebrity Psychics

A glimpse into the world of skeptics creating false Facebook profiles to bust celebrity mediums who do “hot reads” of their clients by first scanning the details of their lives on social media.

Author: Jack Hitt
Published: Feb 26, 2019
Length: 19 minutes (4,765 words)

What It’s Like To Write About Race And Video Games

“If I hated video games, or thought they were all racist, I wouldn’t have a job writing about them. What would the point of that be, to wake up every day and make myself angry? I so much more enjoy doing something I love. For me, taking the time to take apart a piece of media is an act of love. Seeing that love confused for being offended leaves me at a loss.”

Source: Kotaku
Published: Feb 26, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,696 words)

The Reappearing Act

A personal essay in which, in the aftermath of an eating disorder, Audrey Olivero builds a new relationship with her body — through knife-throwing.

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 26, 2019
Length: 14 minutes (3,621 words)

Rembrandt in the Blood: An Obsessive Aristocrat, Rediscovered Paintings and an Art-World Feud

In Amsterdam, a new fight develops over an old master.

Published: Feb 27, 2019
Length: 36 minutes (9,009 words)