“I’m sure there were phonies who claimed to be the sole survivor of Thermopylae,” [Don] Shipley says. “Guys that claimed service at Gettysburg, Valley Forge. But they could only project it down a couple of barstools at the village pub. Now with the internet, you can be anyone you want to be.” —Michael Gaynor writing for Washingtonian about […]
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Posted inBlog Post, Current Events, Nonfiction
You’re Fired! The Unemployable Trump Administration
The firing of FBI Director James Comey is the latest high-profile firing by the administration. It’s also one of the most troubling.
Posted inBlog Post, Discussions, Longreads News
Longreads Turns Seven Years Old: Unfinished Business
I’m quite proud of what this community has accomplished.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Why Are Humans So Curious?
Mario Livio on his new book about human curiosity, his work as an astrophysicist, and why we shouldn’t fear our expanding universe.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our favorite stories of the week, featuring San Francisco Chronicle, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Wired and New York Magazine.
Posted inArts & Culture, History
Percy Ross Wants to Give You Money!
He was was a self-made, blue-collar millionaire in Reagan’s America. But when Percy Ross decided to give away his fortune, he made things simple: all you had to do was ask for it.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
On Beauty: A Reading List About Makeup
Beauty criticism analyzes the ways we can subvert a society that would have us subsumed by self-loathing. We use the tools we’ve been given. Makeup, then, can be a weapon. And it can be damn fun.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
On Beauty: A Reading List About Makeup
Beauty criticism analyzes the ways we can subvert a society that would have us subsumed by self-loathing. We use the tools we’ve been given. Makeup, then, can be a weapon. And it can be damn fun.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Strange Plight of YouTube’s ‘Middle Class’
Gaby Dunn on the bleak economics of internet fame.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Winona Ryder Became the Face of ‘90s Nostalgia
Why can’t we let go of Mermaids-era Winona Ryder? Soraya Roberts at Hazlitt explores the last great pre-internet icon.
