Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editors at Longreads.
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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.
Good Coffee Shouldn’t Have to Cost More Than $1
American’s infatuation with coffee, and the quest to see whether a delicious, $1 cup of joe is possible.
The Zankou Chicken Murders
In the April 2008 issue of Los Angeles magazine reporter Mark Arax wrote about Los Angeles’ beloved Zankou Chicken chain, and how one owner tore the founding family apart by murdering two of its members and killing himself. The story is a compelling mix of family dynamics, fast food and the complex American dream.
Back To School: A Reading List
Bullies, teachers, classmates—it’s time to head back to school with these six stories from the The Big Roundtable, Los Angeles Times, and more.
Taking Up Smoking at the End of the World
In his late twenties, John Sherman finds a new fondness for cigarettes, despite everything he was ever taught about them.
In 1975, Newsweek Predicted A New Ice Age. We’re Still Living with the Consequences.
All climate change deniers needed was one article to cast doubt on the science of global warming.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our favorite stories of the week, featuring, The Atlantic, Outside, The Village Voice, Los Angeles Magazine, and Macon Telegraph.
Leave Them Alone! A Reading List On Celebrity and Privacy
Why do we feel like we own celebrities—not just their art or their products, but their images and their personal lives?
How to Friend Request Your Way Into a Cyber Posse of Unwitting Informants
The set-up was like something out of a movie—Four California Highway Patrol officers with little to no undercover experience decide to pose as Vegas players to take down motorcycle thieves in LA. Southern California’s street bike culture had made motorcycle theft a major problem in recent years, and so the officers would need to infiltrate the scene in order to pull […]

