The Biblical Rheology of Deep-Dish Pizza

A visit to Illinois—home to snow, slaughterhouse romance, and a fraught geology masquerading as pizza—courtesy of Matthew Gavin Frank’s brilliant new book, The Mad Feast.

Source: Liveright
Published: Nov 24, 2015
Length: 11 minutes (2,839 words)

On Pandering

“I wrote Battleborn for white men, toward them. If you hold the book to a certain light, you’ll see it as an exercise in self-hazing, a product of working-class madness, the female strain. So, natural then that Battleborn was well-received by the white male lit establishment: it was written for them.” Claire Vaye Watkins, in Tin House.

Source: Tin House
Published: Nov 23, 2015
Length: 20 minutes (5,132 words)

Who Gets a Public Defender?

In St. Louis, Missouri—where someone can qualify for food stamps but not a public defender—hundreds of the city’s poorest are left without a lawyer.

Published: Nov 18, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,679 words)

An Ode to du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca,’ by Rachel Pastan

“Sometimes a book that is wonderful and well-told and riveting is overlooked. I believe this is the case with Rachel Pastan’s Alena.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 22, 2015
Length: 14 minutes (3,709 words)

Celebrating the Trans Community: A Reading List

Every story is, of course, different, though the American media prizes a certain, clean-cut narrative of triumph over adversity. Trans is an umbrella term; it encompasses a variety of gender identities, a million stories.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 22, 2015

Theological Scars

On losing faith in God at divinity school.

Source: Hazlitt
Published: Nov 20, 2015
Length: 13 minutes (3,326 words)

Forensic Pseudoscience

Are we fundamentally overestimating the scientific soundness of our forensic methods?

Source: Boston Review
Published: Nov 16, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,740 words)

Hockey’s Puppy Mill

Is Canadian junior hockey a pure, amateur version of the sport, or a for-profit industry built on the unpaid labor of teens? An upcoming lawsuit may decide.

Source: Walrus Magazine
Published: Nov 20, 2015
Length: 9 minutes (2,273 words)

“Why Him, Why Me?”

A tragic collision on a football field connects a high school linebacker with a former college running back, who experienced a similar tragedy 26 years prior.

Author: Eli Saslow
Source: ESPN
Published: Nov 17, 2015
Length: 20 minutes (5,082 words)

The Anti-Immigration Activist Who Set The Stage For Donald Trump

Years before Donald Trump made aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric a centerpiece of his campaign, Maria Espinoza pioneered the political strategy of using the stories of families of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants to argue for restrictions on immigration.

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Nov 17, 2015
Length: 14 minutes (3,734 words)