Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editors at Longreads.
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Posted inNonfiction, Story
Behind The Writing: On Interviewing
In her first column on craft, Sarah Menkedick speaks with Sarah Smarsh, Lauren Markham, and Jennifer Percy on the art of the interview.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
The Rising Tide of Wrongful Convictions
Wrongful convictions are not isolated events. They happen in every state. They happen multiple times a week. Here’s a breakdown of how and why the innocent are locked up in America.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, History, Nonfiction, Story
After World War I, Horror Movies Were Invaded By an Army of Reanimated Corpses
Were early horror films, with their long, angry processions of the undead, repeating the mass trauma of the First World War, or foreshadowing the coming of the Second?
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
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.
Posted inBooks, History, Story
When the Movies Went West
Scorned by stage actors and mocked by the theater-going upper classes, filmmakers nevertheless developed a bold new art form — but they needed better weather.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from May Jeong, Leslie Jamison, Irina Dumitrescu, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Matt Wake.
Posted inArts & Culture, Reading List, Unapologetic Women
The Mastery and Magic of Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
With her profiles of Toni Morrison, Dave Chapelle, James Baldwin, and more, Ghansah is an unparalleled chronicler of black excellence.
Posted inBooks, Current Events, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
Hating Big Pharma Is Good, But Supply-Side Epidemic Theory Is Killing People
New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Who Gets to Be a Genius? A Reading List
Why does it often take decades, even centuries, for work by women to be “discovered” and appreciated?
