Michael Musto argues that wearing rose-colored glasses always leads to an unfair distortion — looking back on the best of the past while comparing it to the worst of the present.
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Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, History, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
America’s Post-Frontier Hangover
America binged on expansion, relying on land grabs as an engine of growth and a way to externalize racial hatred. Historian Greg Grandin asks, without a frontier, what can America be?
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2018: Investigative Reporting
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in investigative reporting.
Posted inNonfiction
Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Land Grabs
Melissa Chadburn challenges her own belief that environmental justice issues are reserved for people of privilege.
Posted inNonfiction
It’s Like That: The Makings of a Hip-Hop Writer
Hip-hop was a different kind of music that needed a different kind of writer to cover it. This is how Michael A. Gonzales came of age in a time when Black writers began breaking the white ceiling.
Posted inArts & Culture, Culture, Essays & Criticism, Feature, Story, Unapologetic Women
Dancing Backup: Puerto Ricans in the American Muchedumbre
Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo.
Posted inNonfiction
United States of Conspiracy: An Interview with Anna Merlan
“Most people in America believe in one conspiracy to some extent, but the far end of the pool … is this desire to show that you really do reject all knowable authority.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Sports, Story, Uncategorized
An Audience of Athletes: The Rise and Fall of Feminist Sports
Billie Jean King once tried to find a sustainable business model for feminist sports coverage. Then women’s fitness tried to revive the swimsuit model.
Posted inNonfiction
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.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2018: Crime Reporting
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in crime reporting.
