Forensic science — the kind that traces the grooves in bullets, the mark of a shoe, or the scrape of a tool — emerged in the early 20th century as a way to professionalize police work. But once its findings made their way into the court system, it became almost impossible to divide the good […]
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Longreads Best of 2018: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
No Justice For Old Men
In 2018, we’re inured to stories of a powerful men taking advantage of girls and getting away with it, but Jeffrey Epstein’s story still manages to horrify.
There Are Few Second Chances for Immigrants Who Commit Crimes
How America punishes immigrant criminals multiple times for the same crime and continues traumatizing them.
Shelved: Tupac and MC Hammer’s Promising Collaboration
Sometimes the most fertile creative relationships are the most unlikely.
Checking in on the Masculinity Crisis
If masculinity really is in crisis — and that’s a big if — we should at least be able to agree that it’s not women’s responsibility to fix it.
When the Dishes Are Done, I Wonder About Progress
In “Coventry,” Rachel Cusk draws a connection between politeness and narrative death, rudeness and tragedy, storytelling and war.
Brigid, Magdalene, My Mother, and Me
Carmel Mc Mahon contemplates the legacy of trauma passed down through generations of Irish women.
Oklahoma: A Reading List
“I am leaving this state very soon, and it’s filled me with the kind of ache for understanding that so often accompanies a goodbye, a sense that I can never know quite enough.”
Mothering on the Borders
Yifat Susskind stands at three of the world’s most militarized borders and reflects on what is revealed about these zones of separation and violence when we see them from the perspective of mothers.

