Longreads Guest Pick: Hilary Armstrong on ‘The Horla’
If you really love a story, we want to hear from you. Share your favorite stories with Longreads—old or new, nonfiction or fiction, book or magazine feature—and then tell us why you love it. If we like it, we’ll feature you and your pick.
Resurfaced: Peter Perl’s ‘The Spy Who’s Been Left in the Cold’ (1998)
We’re excited to introduce this new recurring series, in which we work with publishers to dig up notable stories from their archives that were previously unpublished on the web. We’re especially excited to kick this off with The Washington Post.
Today’s piece is “The Spy Who’s Been Left in the Cold,” a 1998 Washington Post Magazine story by Peter Perl, who just announced he’s retiring from the paper after 32 years.
What’s the Best Sentence You Read This Week?
We’re conducting a little experiment with Branch today. Share what you loved reading this week.
Frontline and Longreads: Inside Obama’s Presidency
Coming Tuesday from Frontline: “Inside Obama’s Presidency.” We’ve collected a list of stories from Obama’s first term—share your favorite presidential stories on Twitter with the hashtag #longreads.
Longreads Member Exclusive: The American Nonconformist in the Age of the Commercialization of Dissent
This week’s Longreads Member pick is “The American Nonconformist in the Age of the Commercialization of Dissent,” a 1992 essay by Thomas Frank from The Baffler, the magazine he cofounded with Keith White in 1988.
Frank writes:
“In republishing this bit of juvenilia from 1992—my very first exploration of an idea that I reworked and reconsidered a number of times over the years that followed—it is worth remembering some of the context. This was before the web, for the most part; it was right about when ‘alternative’ was beginning to hit the culture, and a lot of the stuff I describe here was new and surprising at the time. Today, of course, most of it seems utterly unremarkable, so far has what I used to call the commercialization of dissent advanced. It’s not something I really even think about anymore, except for the most outrageous iterations—like the ski helmet I bought last week, a model called ‘Mutiny’ by ‘R.E.D.’ And even then I’m too exhausted to bother belaboring the ironic contrast of this bragging rebelliousness with the millionairiest sport there is. I’m off to even more ironic fields. See you there.”
p.s. You can support Longreads—and get more exclusives like this—by becoming a member for just $3 per month.
Longreads Best of 2012: Isaac Fitzgerald
Isaac Fitzgerald is managing editor of The Rumpus, co-founder of Pen & Ink, and uses Twitter.
Longreads Best of 2012: Michael Kruse
Michael Kruse, an award-winning staff writer at the Tampa Bay Times who also contributes to ESPN’s Grantland, this year gave a TEDx talk and had a story make the anthology Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists.
The Top 10 Longreads of 2012
[Best of 2012] Thanks to everyone who has participated in the Longreads community this year, and to all of our guests who shared their favorite stories of 2012. The below list represents our editors' favorite stories of the year, for both nonfiction and fiction.
Longreads is edited by Mark Armstrong and Mike Dang, with Kjell Reigstad, Joyce King Thomas, Hakan Bakkalbasi, Jodi Ettenberg and Erika Kussmann.
Thanks to all the writers and publishers who create outstanding work.
Longreads Best of 2012: Jodi Ettenberg
Jodi Ettenberg is the founder of Legal Nomads, a contributing editor to Longreads and Travelreads, and the author of The Food Traveler’s Handbook.
Longreads Best of 2012: Geoff Van Dyke
Geoff Van Dyke is the editorial director of 5280 Magazine in Denver, Colorado. His writing has appeared in Outside, Men’s Journal, and The New York Times.