Inside Scientology: A Reading List

Stories about Scientology from Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, JSTOR Daily, and The Daily Beast.

Author: Julia Wick
Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 20, 2015

The Pez Outlaw

How a Michigan farmer made and lost millions smuggling rare Pez containers into the US.

Author: Jeff Maysh
Source: Playboy
Published: Mar 20, 2015
Length: 18 minutes (4,660 words)

The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous

Glaser examines the history of the popular, faith-based 12-step program that dominates alcohol abuse treatment in the U.S. and asks why we’ve ignored several other effective treatments.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Mar 16, 2015
Length: 33 minutes (8,292 words)

Playing House

A look at why a growing tide of musicians are moving their shows away from sweaty clubs and into cozy living rooms, and the cottage industry that has sprung up around the production of so-called house shows.

Source: Pitchfork
Published: Mar 12, 2015
Length: 14 minutes (3,600 words)

The Revolution Will Probably Wear Mom Jeans

“Normcore is a remarkably efficient summary of hipster posturing at its most baroque.”

Source: The Baffler
Published: Mar 12, 2015
Length: 14 minutes (3,521 words)

Escape From New York

The late Ellen Willis—a legendary feminist and cultural critic—writes about loneliness, human connection and aging radicals in the context of a solo cross-country Greyhound bus trip. The essay originally appeared as a 1981 cover story in the Village Voice, and was later reprinted in The Essential Ellen Willis.

Source: Village Voice
Published: Jul 29, 1981
Length: 41 minutes (10,420 words)

She Was Abandoned as a Baby, Found at a Train Depot in 1915. Then She Lived to 100.

The life story of Annie Ione Rachels Pacifici.

Source: Macon Telegraph
Published: Mar 14, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,100 words)

Gone in 30 Seconds

How four California Highway Patrol officers with little undercover experience posed as Vegas players to take down motorcycle thieves in LA.

Published: Mar 18, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,970 words)

Meals Behind Bars: A Reading List

Four stories about food in the prison system.

Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 18, 2015

The Cold Rim of the World

The rise and fall of Pyramiden, a Russian mining town located in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 18, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,199 words)