Walls and Fences: A Reading List

These reads explore walls and fences as physical borders, but also things we’ve built in our minds.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 11, 2016

Cyberchondria: D.I.Y. Diagnosis in Overdrive

In researching his chronic headache on the web, veteran journalist Barry Newman takes a terrifying walk down the Via Dolorosa of digital self-diagnosis.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 10, 2016
Length: 10 minutes (2,698 words)

Take a Hike: Seven Stories About Heading Outdoors

Stories about the outdoors, outdoor apparel, hiking buddies, bodily transformation, body image, abuse and sufferfests.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 7, 2016

Letter to an Ex, on the Occasion of His Suicide

In the wake of a troubled ex-lover’s suicide, novelist Masha Hamilton tries to make sense of it in a correspondence to his ghost.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 1, 2016
Length: 23 minutes (5,851 words)

RNC vs. DNC: A Reading List Examining the Conventions

Ten stories examining the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 31, 2016

The Case for More Female Cops

Nearly nine out of ten cops are men. Sarah Smarsh discusses the police force’s gender problem and a Wichita woman’s efforts inside the criminal justice system that failed her.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 26, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,886 words)

The Mystery of Carl Miller

What if your last name is just the word that comes after your first name?

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 21, 2016
Length: 9 minutes (2,438 words)

Unattributed: A Reading List on Plagiarism

Here are six meaty reads on plagiarism: from deep dives into infamous recent cases to essays that question the very possibility of writing that isn’t, to some extent, an act of unattributed borrowing.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 20, 2016

Little Government in the Big Woods

Melissa Gilbert’s lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of Little House on the Prairie.

Author: Mary Pilon
Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 19, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,061 words)

Just Like Heaven? Four Stories About Nordic Countries

Why are we Americans so drawn to the Scandinavian Peninsula and beyond? Why do some Republicans speak of Sweden with disdain or horror, whereas left-leaning folks go starry-eyed? Does the recent influx of refugees to these countries mark the beginning of institutionalized xenophobia?

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 17, 2016