An excerpt from “Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home,” by Jessica Berger Gross.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editorial team at Longreads.
The Arsonist Was Like a Ghost
It was the thirtieth fire in less than two months. Who was trying to burn down Accomack County?
The Louisiana Environmental Apocalypse Road Trip
Louisiana serves as a terrifying example of what can become of a state that shortchanges science and environmental regulations to boost industry and infrastructure.
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.
My Parents Said I Bruised Easily
An excerpt from “Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home,” by Jessica Berger Gross.
The High-Water Mark: The Battle of Gettysburg, the Jersey Shore, and the Death of My Father
Contemplating history, family, and today’s America, Dane A. Wisher tells the story of spreading his father’s ashes on the battlefield at Gettysburg National Park and coming to terms with his life and death.
Drinking Chai to Savannah: Reflections on Identity, Inclusion and Power in the South
On a girls’ road trip to Savannah with six of her immigrant friends, Anjali Enjeti recalls a traumatic racist incident she experienced as a teen—an interaction that framed her understanding of her otherness, in Georgia, and America.
Jerry Tarkanian and Walter Byers: Adversaries Who Left Mark on N.C.A.A.
In the New York Times, Joe Nocera looks back at the battle between college basketball coaching great Jerry Tarkanian and former NCAA executive director Walter Byers, who both died in 2015.
How Two Enemies Shaped the Future of College Sports
Byers, who became the executive director of the N.C.A.A. in 1951 — a position he held for the next 37 years — transformed a toothless association into a powerful force that mirrored his own personality: secretive, despotic, stubborn and ruthless. He helped turn the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament into the financial windfall we now know […]

