Young, desperate, and laden with student loans, Michael Fitzgerald takes a job as a for-profit college inspector, enticing other students into debt to pay back his own.
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Home Is Where the Fraud Is
At the height of the housing crisis, one woman’s bureaucratic odyssey to discover who really owns her home leads her to startling revelations about the housing market.
Five Stories About Espionage
Today’s spying relies on social media, surveillance, coercion and ambition.
Against Confession: On Intersectional Feminism, Radical Catholicism, and Redefining Remorse
Laura Goode investigates her Catholic identity—the radical, feminist, social-justice-oriented version she discovered upon encountering the mysteries of marriage and motherhood—years after her departure from the guilt-stricken, conservative Catholicism of her upbringing.
Birth—and Rebirth—after Bulimia
In pregnancy, writer Judy Tsuei found herself confronting the eating disorder she’d recovered from and her Chinese-American upbringing—and in the process, rebirthing herself as the kind of mother her daughter would need her to be.
The Shaming of the Cherry Sisters
How “Vaudeville’s worst act” fought for fame and respect on the stage.
Falling in Love with Words: The Secret Life of a Lexicographer
Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper describes how she fell in love with words and offers a peek into the complex process of making dictionaries.
Excerpt: ‘The Red Car’ by Marcy Dermansky
“The car had upset me. Judy had found a parking space right in front of the restaurant and I could see the red car from our table. Taunting me.”
Home Is Where the Fraud Is
At the height of the housing crisis, one woman’s bureaucratic odyssey to discover who really owns her home leads her to startling revelations about the housing market.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
The best stories of the week, as chosen by the editors of Longreads.

