Oakland Wants You to Stop Calling It the ‘Next Brooklyn’

Is it possible for a city to both welcome new investment and avoid displacing its residents at the same time?

Source: Next City
Published: Dec 15, 2014
Length: 11 minutes (2,861 words)

The Boy Who Had Two Lives

When Binjamin Wilkomirksi’s account of his childhood was published in 1995, it was hailed as a classic among Holocaust memoirs. Then the fraud allegations began.

Source: The Independent
Published: Jun 6, 1999
Length: 27 minutes (6,864 words)

A ‘Survivor’ Producer, a Dead Wife, Four Years in a Mexican Prison

Bruce Beresford-Redman was charged with murder after the body of his spouse, Monica, was found naked and beaten in a sewer drain at a Cancun resort in 2010. But he maintains his innocence as he awaits a verdict in a Mexican prison.

Published: Dec 19, 2014
Length: 25 minutes (6,319 words)

Five Stories About Addiction

Stories of drug addiction take many form; every story is different and intensely personal. This week, read an excerpt from a journalist’s memoir, a profile of a lead singer, a mother’s reflection and more.

Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 14, 2014

How the Death of Mid-Budget Cinema Left a Generation of Iconic Filmmakers MIA

The current studio system favors making a handful of big-budget blockbusters over a diverse portfolio that would include mid-budget films with adult sensibilities—the kind directors like John Waters, David Lynch, and Susan Seidelman used to make.

Source: Flavorwire
Published: Dec 9, 2014
Length: 18 minutes (4,653 words)

Sun and Shadows

How Seychelles—a tiny island nation a thousand miles from anywhere—became an offshore magnet for money launderers and tax dodgers.

Published: Jun 9, 2014
Length: 24 minutes (6,000 words)

Inside the Collapse of the New Republic

Admittedly impartial, but thorough, breakdown by Lizza (a former contributing editor for TNR) on what happened when owner Chris Hughes attempted to replace the editor he hired, Franklin Foer, and reinvent the 100-year-old magazine as a digital media company.

Author: Ryan Lizza
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Dec 12, 2014
Length: 22 minutes (5,699 words)

The Untold Story of the Doodler Murders

A writer investigates a serial killer who stalked San Francisco’s gay bars in the 1970’s.

Author: Elon Green
Source: The Awl
Published: Dec 11, 2014
Length: 17 minutes (4,288 words)

Crazy in Love

“Loving a crazy person forces you beyond all conventional measurements of worth or meaning.”

Source: The New Inquiry
Published: Dec 4, 2014
Length: 12 minutes (3,084 words)

Longreads Best of 2014: Our 10 Most Popular Exclusives of the Year

This year, Longreads worked with a group of outstanding writers and publishers to produce original stories and exclusives that hadn’t been previously published online. It was all funded with support from our Longreads Members.

Author: Editors
Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 11, 2014