How burdens and values pass from fathers to sons, and the search for that one true thing.
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Longreads Best of 2012: Justin Heckert
Justin Heckert is a writer living in Indianapolis. His work has recently been anthologized in the book Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. Most Beautiful Story: “Never Let Go,” Kelley Benham, Tampa Bay Times Best Essay: Lisa Taddeo, “Why We Cheat,” Esquire Most Entertaining Profile: Jason Fagone, “Schoolly D is Living the American Dream,” Philadelphia […]
The Skies Belong to Us: How Hijackers Created an Airline Crisis in the 1970s
Brendan I. Koerner | The Skies Belong to Us | 2013 | 25 minutes (6,186 words) ‘There Is No Way to Tell a Hijacker by Looking At Him’ When the FAA’s antihijacking task force first convened in February 1969, its ten members knew they faced a daunting challenge—not only because of the severity of the […]
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
“There were a million heavenly things to see and a million spectacular ways to die.”
A Brief History of Class and Waste in India
“This is the man who transformed teenage rebellion into a toilet revolution.”
The Boy Who Died of Football
The Boy Who Died of Football Three days after he collapsed from heatstroke at practice in 2008, 15-year-old Max Gilpin became one of at least 665 boys since 1931 to die as a result of high school football. Here’s what made his case different: The Commonwealth of Kentucky tried to prove Max’s coach had a […]
Longreads Best of 2012: Andrea Pitzer
Andrea Pitzer is the author of the forthcoming nonfiction book The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov. Best Innocence Story “The Innocent Man” (Pam Colloff, Texas Monthly) What if you were convicted of murdering your wife, and you didn’t do it? What if, after decades in prison, you learned that the prosecution had held proof of […]
How a Great American Theatrical Family Produced the 19th Century’s Most Notorious Assassin
The celebrated tragedians of the Booth family let Shakespeare’s themes seep into their own relationships. Hubris, glory, the legacy of a dead father, brotherly rivalry, and a powerful delusion led the family—and the nation—to catastrophe.
Autistic and Searching for a Home
Between jail and the hospital, Savannah Shannon’s life is in limbo.
Call It Rape
Margot Singer | The Normal School | 2012 | 23 minutes (5,683 words) The Normal SchoolThanks to Margot Singer and The Normal School for sharing this story with the Longreads community.Subscribe to The Normal School * * * Still life with man and gun Three girls are smoking on the back porch of their high […]
