A series of losses prompts s.e. smith to wonder why, if it’s inevitable, we tend to view death as failure.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
On Pandering
“I wrote Battleborn for white men, toward them. If you hold the book to a certain light, you’ll see it as an exercise in self-hazing, a product of working-class madness, the female strain. So, natural then that Battleborn was well-received by the white male lit establishment: it was written for them.” Claire Vaye Watkins, in […]
Posted inBlog Post, Books, Uncategorized
The Summer People of Shirley Jackson and Kelly Link
Black Cardigan is a great newsletter by writer-editor Carrie Frye, who shares dispatches from her reading life. We’re thrilled to share some of them on Longreads. Go here to sign up for her latest updates. * * * There’s a wonderful, creepy Shirley Jackson story—you may already know it—called “The Summer People.” It’s about a couple from New York […]
Posted inNonfiction
The Religion No One Talks About: My Search For Answers in an Old Caribbean Faith
Writer Sarah Betancourt explores her connections to Espiritismo and Santeria.
Posted inBooks
House Heart
“I love this story for its wryness and subtlety, but most especially for its willingness to take me where I don’t want to go.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction
From a Hawk to a Dove
Vietnam Veteran Ray Cocks, who’d eagerly enlisted in 1967, was forever changed by the realities of war.
Posted inFiction, Reading List, Uncategorized
10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2016
Below is a guest post from Mumbai-based writer-filmmaker—and longtime #longreads contributor—Pravesh Bhardwaj (@AuteurPravesh).
Posted inFeature, Nonfiction
Our Well-Regulated Militia
Is the conversation around guns in this country really about the right to bear arms?
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
From a Hawk to a Dove
Vietnam Veteran Ray Cocks, who’d eagerly enlisted in 1967, was forever changed by the realities of war.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Death by Fire
Forty years after his time with the U.S. Forest Service, a writer reflects on his years fighting fires out West, especially how fire shapes both forests and people.
