A Dream Undone

Why do Americans have less voting rights today than they did 50 years ago? Rutenberg examines how the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed to prevent the disenfranchisement of black Americans, has been gutted.

Published: Jul 29, 2015
Length: 43 minutes (10,975 words)

Best of Enemies

Will intellectual combat ever top the televised 1968 debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley? New York Magazine‘s Jim Holt thinks not.

Author: Jim Holt
Published: Jul 26, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,710 words)

Inside the Family Battle for the Newman’s Own Brand Name

The feud over Paul Newman’s food empire and charitable foundation.

Author: Mark Seal
Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jul 23, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,928 words)

Why Aren’t There More Women Futurists?

The academic study of potential futures has traditionally focused on inventions and technology, less on politics and social dynamics. As a result, it has stayed a predominantly white, male field — but the status quo might be starting to shift.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jul 31, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,697 words)

Warren Buffett’s Family Secretly Funded a Birth Control Revolution

How a Buffett family foundation quietly became the most influential supporter of research on IUDs, expanding access to the contraceptive and potentially changing the reproductive lives of millions of women.

Published: Jul 30, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,418 words)

The Wandering Years

Thoughts, observations, and reflections from the travel journals of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Published: Jul 30, 2015
Length: 18 minutes (4,685 words)

Fitted

Moira Wegel on FitBit activity trackers and the nature of confession.

Source: The New Inquiry
Published: Jul 27, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,140 words)

The Extraordinary Life of the First American to Join China’s Communist Party

Sidney Rittenberg served in China as an army linguist in the 1940s. After his enlistment ended in he stayed in China, became a leader in the Cultural Revolution and spent 16 years in solitary confinement.

Source: The Week
Published: Jul 29, 2015
Length: 20 minutes (5,090 words)

The Perils of Writing About Your Own Family: A Conversation with George Hodgman

“Memoir is a total minefield, as you know. It’s best if you write the book and leave the country.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Apr 28, 2015
Length: 15 minutes (3,752 words)

The Psychology of the Impossible Campaign

T.A. Frank turns a profile of George Pataki into a psychological investigation of long-shot presidential candidates: Why do people run for president even though they cannot win? And how should we the voters feel about them?

Author: T.A. Frank
Published: Jul 25, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,766 words)