In 1981, after being missing for 19 days, 10-year-old Ursula Herrmann was found buried in a box measuring 72cm by 60cm – the size of a small coffee table. So, how did a member of the prosecution team, the victim’s brother, no less, end up acting in favor of the defense?
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Balancing Story and Sentiment: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist’s New Issue
In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Kelly Loudenberg and Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about their work on “The Caregivers.”
Anyone’s Son
Cody Dalton Eyre, a 20-year-old Alaskan Native, was having a mental health crisis on Christmas Eve, 2017 when his mother called 911 for help. So why did police officers end up shooting and killing him?
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from John Woodrow Cox, Nathaniel Penn, Len Necefer, Aymann Ismail, and Michael Venutolo-Mantovani.
In Hot Pursuit of STS-50, High Seas Scofflaw
What’s in the hold, captain? Oh nothing, just tonnes upon tonnes of illegal Chilean bass — nothing to see here!
How a Hurricane’s Trailing Winds Retold Willie Earle’s 1947 Mass Lynching
“Even with a preponderance of evidence and testimonies, every man on trial got away with murder. This fact was not front-page news but tucked beneath odd stories called ‘Flashes of Life.'”
“What Do I Know To Be True?”: Emma Copley Eisenberg on Truth in Nonfiction, Writing Trauma, and The Dead Girl Newsroom
“We were interested in dead girls, but so interested in them that we were trying to do the opposite of what had been done before.”
A Crime By Any Name
The Trump administration’s commitment to deterring immigration through cruelty has made horrifying conditions in detention facilities inevitable.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Greg Jaffe, Justine van der Leun, Diana Moskovitz, Katy Vine, and Brian VanHooker.
How the US Spied on Allies and Adversaries Alike
The “United States and its allies exploited other nations’ gullibility for years, taking their money and stealing their secrets.”

