Inspired by her governess, the radical feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, Margaret King cast aside her immense privilege, cross-dressed as a man to go to medical school, and inspired a new generation of women to push against the rigid conventions of their era.
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Unchain My Heart: On the Emotional Effectiveness—and Lingering Sexism—of Jewish Divorce
Sari Botton explores the dark side of a tradition that has for millennia subverted women’s rights.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
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. The Day I Started Lying to Ruth Peter B. Bach | New York Magazine | May 6, 2014 | 24 minutes (6,012 […]
The Vanishing: What Happened to the Thousands Still Missing in Mexico?
More than 23,000 people have gone missing during Mexico’s drug wars. Every year, their families make a trek to Monterrey seeking answers.
A Dead Superhero Is a Marvelous Corpse
A theory of superhero suffering and death.
Alexander Chee on Writing, Success, and Subletting Below Chloë Sevigny
At Catapult, Alexander Chee has a self-reflective essay about a period in the early aughts when he got to sublet a friend’s plum 19th-story apartment in Gramercy Park. She let him have it for just $900 per month, a steal, which took a great deal of financial pressure off of him. This was after the […]
Helen Gurley Brown’s Nemeses (and Collected Papers)
There is a fantastic piece on legendary Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown and her legacy (or more specifically, who owns Brown’s legacy) in today’s New York Times. Katherine Rosman unpacks the financial and cultural battle over Brown’s estate with nuanced, careful reporting, but she also doesn’t sacrifice any of the heightened details you’d expect from a Helen Gurley […]
How Japan Prepared to Care for Its Rapidly Aging Population
As far back as the early 1960s, the government became aware of the imminent ageing problem and began to establish nursing homes and home helpers. In the 1970s, benefits for retirees were more than doubled and a system of virtually free healthcare for older people was established. In 1990, Japan introduced the “Gold Plan”, expanding […]
When the Messiah Came to America, She Was a Woman
On the rise and fall of American utopia.

