After WWII, Russian forces occupied east Germany. The soldiers and their barracks became part of the fabric of life, though still separate from it, as was the forced camaraderie between citizens of each nation, “the sort acted out at parades rather than genuinely felt.” Here’s what one child’s life was like in occupied Germany beside […]
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Posted inNonfiction
A Dead Superhero Is a Marvelous Corpse
A theory of superhero suffering and death.
Papers
The Man in a Shell Sarah Miller This story, the first in Chekhov’s little trilogy, is a story within a story — all the stories in the trilogy follow this format — about a teacher named Burkin and a veterinarian named Ivan Ivanych who stop and spend the night at the home of a friend […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Becoming One of the World’s 65 Million Refugees
Majid Hussain keeps having to run.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Ruback
A newspaper journalist’s attempt to correct the record.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our favorite stories of the week.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
Helping My Son Choose Between the Cub Scouts and His Beliefs about God
Kate Abbott thought the Cub Scouts would be a great place for her son to make friends. Then they came across the ‘Duty to God’ requirements.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Writing
Youth From Every Quarter
A teacher at an elite boarding school confronts her own confused leap up the ladder of class privilege.
Posted inBlog Post, Nonfiction
What We Get Wrong about Hannah Arendt
The lessons we are drawing from her work may not be the one we most need to learn.
Posted inNonfiction
Little Government in the Big Woods
Melissa Gilbert’s lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of ‘Little House on the Prairie.’
