Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. Teachings Win Bassett | Poetry Foundation | May 27, 2015 | 15 minutes (3,780 words) On poetry and dying: Win Bassett reflects […]
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Longreads Best of 2016: Under-Recognized Stories
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in under-recognized stories.
Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology
Alec Nevala-Lee, author of Astounding, a forthcoming book on the history of science fiction, digs into the writing career of L. Ron Hubbard, gaining new insights into the life of the controversial founder of dianetics and the origins and nature of Scientology itself.
Canada, Who Are You?
Canada seemed like the perfect country: scenic, peaceful, friendly, progressive. But the country has its dark sides too.
‘See What Y’All Can Work Out’: The State of Empathy in Charleston
Charleston’s—and our nation’s—systemic racism, through the lens of the Dylann Roof trial.
Mourning the Low-Rent, Weirdo-Filled East Village of Old
An excerpt of Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost its Soul, by Jeremiah Moss.
Remembering the Female Voice of the Blues
Looking at Amanda Petrusich’s 2013 Oxford American magazine story about blues singer Bessie Smith.
In China, Searching for Mysterious Gaps in the Family Tree
China’s revolution made it difficult for Chinese abroad to stay in contact with their families. Now many in the diaspora are searching for their roots.
Postwar New York: The Supreme Metropolis of the Present
Forty labor strikes on one day, French existentialists on the loose, and a 50-foot G.I. blowing enormous puffs of REAL smoke.
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.

