Posted inTop 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle and Readmill users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. *** 1. Is There Hope for the Survivors of the Drug Wars? Monica Potts | American Prospect | March 24, 2014 | 32 minutes […]

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Posted inEditor's Pick

In Conversation: Michael Bloomberg

Entertaining and infuriating exit interview with New York City’s mayor, in which Bloomberg defends the rich, criticizes the current mayoral candidates, and trumpets his record across crime, education and quality of life: “A common theme in the campaign to succeed you has been that you’ve governed primarily for the rich. “I’m fascinated by these comments—and […]

Posted inEditor's Pick

Massive Resistance in a Small Town

After the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling overturned the mandate that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional, Prince Edward County in Virginia closed its public schools to resist integration. The story behind the small town that resisted integration and the legal battles that ensued during the Civil Rights movement: “After the […]

Posted inEditor's Pick

Academy Fight Song

“The higher education mantra is possibly the greatest cliché in American public life.” Thomas Frank argues that greed has taken over at most universities in the U.S., causing costs to spiral out of control, administrators to proliferate, and professors’ work to be outsourced to instructors with no benefits or job security: “We don’t pause to […]

Posted inEditor's Pick

When the Ruins Were New

In 1862, the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII fled a sex scandal and took a trip to the Middle East. At the last minute, he was joined by a photographer named Francis Bedford, who proceeded to capture some of the earliest images of the Egyptian ruins. His work is featured in the […]

Posted inEditor's Pick

The Gates Effect

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is spending millions to change the way we think about higher education. It includes potential changes on how students receive federal aid, and projects that aim to deliver a college degree that costs no more than $5,000 a year. But is it a good thing—and what really needs fixing? […]

Posted inNonfiction

Everything to Live For

Jennifer Mendelsohn | Washingtonian | June 1998 | 36 minutes (8,995 words) Jennifer Mendelsohn is the “Modern Family” columnist for Baltimore Style magazine. A former People magazine special correspondent and Slate columnist, her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, Tablet, Medium, McSweeney’s and Jezebel. This story first appeared in the June […]

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