Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo.
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Irvine Welsh on Brexit, Existential Panic, and His Latest ‘Trainspotting’ Sequel
“The books from ‘Trainspotting’ onwards have been about deindustrialization … the cruel existential panic that we feel, in the sense that we don’t really know what we’re here for anymore.”
Searching for The Sundays
When music writers are also music fans, they can walk a line between appreciative and intrusive.
The Enduring Myth of a Lost Live Iggy and the Stooges Album
In 1973, Columbia Records professionally recorded the infamous band for a planned concert record. Columbia never released it. Maybe they never recorded it.
The Lasting Effects of the Lolita Complex
Lacy Warner examines the downward turn of actress Dominique Swain’s career, and how the trouble began the moment she grew up.
‘Brokenness and Holiness Really Go Together’: Darcey Steinke on Menopause
Darcey Steinke says that most menopause memoirs “end with this come-to-Jesus moment of, ‘Then I accepted hormones.’ I’m not against it, but … I wanted to hear what it’s like for other women.”
Memoirs of a Used Car Salesman’s Daughter
Hearses, limousines, Detroit’s newest model — cars marked many milestones in Nancy Nichols’ life of heartache and family deception.
The Haväng Dolmen
A trip to a Swedish stone-age burial site gives an archaeologist too close a look at death.
An Oral History of Detroit Punk Rock
In Detroit’s empty buildings and troubled streets, restless kids squatted, ran punk clubs, pressed their own records, and made their own magazine. They mostly stayed out of trouble.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Aly Raisman, Joseph Williams, Jenna Wortham, Mayukh Sen, and Sirin Kale.

