When a promising student left a neighborhood full of heroin for the University of Pennsylvania, it should have been a moving story. But what does an at-risk student actually need to thrive — or even just to survive?
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Posted inNonfiction
How the Cosby Story Finally Went Viral — And Why It Took So Long
A journalist who reported on the accusations long before they went viral wonders, “What kind of profession am I in, where stories have no logical reason for unfolding?”
Posted inFood, Nonfiction, Reading List
The 2017 James Beard Award Winners: A Reading List
Congrats to all the winners of the 2017 James Beard awards.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Story
How Diderot’s Encyclopedia Challenged the King
The encyclopedists’ plan to catalog knowledge seemed harmless enough. But what they intended was far more subversive: to restructure knowledge itself.
Posted inNonfiction
Fugitive Justice
After stumbling upon the scene of the capture of an escaped murderer, clinical social worker Jennifer Lunden grapples with the polarities of innocence and guilt, social neglect and social justice.
Posted inNonfiction
True Roots
One woman quits coloring her gray hair and investigates the human and environmental costs of this contentious female beauty standard.
Posted inNonfiction
Other Rachel Lyons
Having a fairly common name gives Rachel Lyon occasional glimpses into the lives of her doppelgangers — and the roads she has not taken.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, History, Nonfiction
My Journey to the Heart of the FOIA Request
Fifty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act gave the public access to government secrets — all you had to do was ask. How a simple request became a bureaucratic nightmare.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Story
In the Age of the Psychonauts
Three psycho-spiritual “events” of the 1970s — involving Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, and Terence and Dennis McKenna — had a strange synchronicity.
Posted inArts & Culture, Crime, Current Events, Essays & Criticism, Story
True Crime and the Trash Balance
True crime has a reputation for being trashy, but a recent renaissance has it tipping into advocacy.
