A woman reflects on the virtues and limits of online dating: I went on a date with a classical composer who invited me to a John Cage concert at Juilliard. After the concert we looked for the bust of Béla Bartók on 57th Street. We couldn’t find it, but he told me how Bartók had […]
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“Diary: Google Invades”—Rebecca Solnit, London Review of Books Quote found by Michael Kruse
Longreads Guest Pick: Christian Lorentzen on 'The Last White Election?'
Today’s guest pick comes from Christian Lorentzen, editor for the London Review of Books, who recommends “The Last White Election?” by Mike Davis in the New Left Review: “Mike Davis’s essay is the most thorough analysis I’ve seen of the 2012 election and what it portends for the future. Written from outside the Washington consensusphere, […]
How does the U.S. define what groups are terrorist organizations, and what groups are potential allies? Questions around the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK) in Iran: The story of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK), is all about the way image management can enable a diehard enemy to become […]
A review of new book Demon Fish and the truth about sharks—from their mating rituals to the real odds of being attacked: There were 75 verified shark attacks last year, and 12 fatalities. Even in the US, a global hotspot, you are forty times more likely to be hospitalised by a Christmas tree ornament than […]
Let Us Pay: On the Future of the Newspaper Industry
Let Us Pay: On the Future of the Newspaper Industry I feel equally certain in saying that what the print media need, more than anything else, is a new payment mechanism for online reading, which lets you read anything you like, wherever it is published, and then charges you on an aggregated basis, either monthly […]
'Damn Right,' I Said.
‘Damn Right,’ I Said. Bush is the lone hero of every page of Decision Points. Very few spoken words are assigned to him, outside of the public records of speeches and press conferences, and in nearly all of them he is forceful, in command, and peeved at the inadequacies of his subordinates: ‘What the hell is […]
Why Reality Shows Failed on Russian TV
Why Reality Shows Failed on Russian TV For the Russian version of “The Apprentice,” Vladimir Potanin, a metals oligarch worth more than $10 billion, was recruited to be the boss choosing between the candidates competing for the dream job. Potanin goaded, teased and tortured the candidates as they went through increasingly difficult challenges. The show […]
Longreads Best of 2012: Emily M. Keeler
Emily M. Keeler is a writer and the founding editor of Little Brother Magazine. Best Pair of Essays on Loneliness Emily Cooke, “The Lonely Ones” – The New Inquiry Susan Sontag is a force that continues to be reckoned with, and the publication of her second volume of journals this year occasioned this incredible piece. […]
Longreads Best of 2012: David Roth
David Roth is a co-founder of, writer for and editor at the sports website The Classical. He writes columns for Sports On Earth and Vice, co-writes The Daily Fix blog-column for the Wall Street Journal online, and writes for The Awl, GQ and other places when there’s time and when they’ll have him. He’s on […]
