This week, we’re sharing stories from Abrahm Lustgarten, Greg Jaffe, Omari Weekes and Elias Rodriques, Jeremy Lybarger, and Cat Cardenas and Christian Wallace.
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The Strange True Tale of ‘Castro’s No. 1 Killer’
Herman Marks, a drifter from Milwaukee, took a boat to Cuba with nothing but a Colt .45 revolver and $400 in cash. His plan? To join the revolution.
In Pocahontas County, Deep Divisions and a Gruesome Discovery
In an excerpt from ‘The Third Rainbow Girl,’ Emma Copley Eisenberg interrogates various social conditions that might have contributed to a mysterious double murder in West Virginia in 1980.
Finding Solace in the Charged Particles of the Aurora Borealis
“Cree First Nations believe ‘the northern lights are dancing spirits of loved ones who have passed on.’”
Digital Havoc: A Reading List About Hacking
Behind the 1s and 0s, hackers are still people—and their motivations are more nuanced than you might think.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week’s edition highlights stories by Elissa Nadworny and Claire Harbage, Thomas Lake, Jeff Sharlet, Jasmine Attia, and Brett Martin.
Librarians on the Front Lines: A Reading List for Library Lovers and Realists
Increasingly, being a librarian is less and less about books and more and more about community survival.
Queens of Infamy: Isabella of France
Married off at age 12, Isabella put up with her husband’s shenanigans over decades. Eventually, the She-Wolf of France had had enough.
Uncanny Testimony
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.

