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In investigation into how the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) became accused of intentionally allowing American firearms to get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels: Voth grew deeply frustrated. In August 2010, after the ATF in Texas confiscated 80 guns—63 of them purchased in Arizona by the Fast and Furious […]

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A writer digs through his personal library of quitting-smoking books as he attempts to quit smoking: Step 3: Go to the Strand. Buy a book you already own—Richard Klein’s Cigarettes Are Sublime. (Your old copy—a gift from one of the girls next door senior year, the same ‘friend’ who another time gave you a carton […]

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How Lisette Lee, a privileged young woman with ties to the Samsung fortune, turned to drug trafficking: Lee would go on to tell federal authorities a lot of things about herself: that she was a famous Korean pop star as well as the heiress to the Samsung electronics fortune; she was so emphatic on this […]

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Our Top 5 Longreads of the Week—featuring stories from Orion Magazine, Harper’s, Atlanta Magazine, Fortune Magazine and The Rumpus, plus fiction from Electric Literature and a guest pick from N.V. Binder.

Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story

‘Like Being in Prison with a Salary’: The Secret World of the Shipping Industry

Rose George | Metropolitan Books | August 2013 | 17 minutes (4,213 words) The following is the opening chapter of Rose George’s new book, Ninety Percent of Everything. Our thanks to the author for sharing it with the Longreads community. * * * Friday. No sensible sailor goes to sea on the day of the Crucifixion or the […]

Posted inBooks, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story

What Life Was Like for an Executioner’s Family in the 16th Century

Joel F. Harrington | The Faithful Executioner, Farrar, Straus and Giroux | March 2013 | 15 minutes (3,723 words) Below is an excerpt from the book The Faithful Executioners, by Joel F. Harrington, which was recently featured as a Longreads Member Pick. Thanks to our Longreads Members for making these stories possible—sign up to join Longreads […]

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