Longreads Best of 2015: Under-Recognized Books

We asked our book editors to tell us about a few books they felt deserved more recognition in 2015. Here they are.

Author: Editors
Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 15, 2015

Longreads Best of 2015: Essays & Criticism

Story picks by Leslie Jamison, Jia Tolentino, Roxane Gay, Tom Scocca, Ann Friedman, Rachel Syme, Francesca Mari, Sari Botton, and Emily Perper.

Author: Editors
Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 15, 2015

You Can Have Millions Of Subscribers On YouTube—And Still Be Flat Broke

Gaby Dunn, who struggles to make ends meet despite being a YouTube personality with more than half a million subscribers, investigates the bleak economics of internet fame.

Author: Gaby Dunn
Source: Fusion
Published: Dec 14, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,138 words)

A Tale of Two Sisters

As a gymnast born without legs, Jen Bricker grew up idolizing Olympic gold-medalist Dominique Moceanu from afar. Only later would she discover that Moceanu was actually her sister. Segal weaves both sisters’ stories with a look at the complicated interplay of genes and environment in the creation of athletic prowess.

Published: Nov 3, 2015
Length: 16 minutes (4,000 words)

The Haunting Link Between Two Mass Shootings

Forty years and 500 miles apart, two friends are linked as mass shooting victims.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Dec 10, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,372 words)

Longreads Best of 2015: Sports Writing

The best in sports writing.

Author: Editors
Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 14, 2015

Five People Who Shaped 2015: A Reading List

Here are five people who influenced the world in powerful ways in 2015.

Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 13, 2015

The Body Snatchers

What happens when PR campaigns decide who gets an organ?

Source: Toronto Life
Published: Dec 11, 2015
Length: 21 minutes (5,298 words)

The Public Is Us

Groner’s essay charts public health from Typhoid Mary to the Ebola outbreak, considering the balance between civil liberties and disease control.

Published: Dec 8, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,045 words)

The Secret History of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’

“How is it that this novel could be sexy, entertaining, experimental, politically radical, and wildly popular all at once? Its success was no sure thing, and the story of how it came about is a crucial and little-known chapter in the literary history of the last half-century.” Paul Elie on the life and work of Gabriel García Márquez.

Author: PAUL ELIE
Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Dec 11, 2015
Length: 21 minutes (5,279 words)