“It’s very hard to be a perfectionist growing up in the film world. It reinforces all of your worst fears about perfection and doing things right.”
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Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Twisted History of Your Favorite Board Game
An interview with Mary Pilon about her new book, ‘The Monopolists,’ which uncovers the real story about how Monopoly became the game it is today.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Prisoner’s Daughter
What if your dad had been doing time for murder for as long as you’d known him? She was a leader like her father, Amanda’s relatives told her. She’d inherited his forceful personality and his stubborn streak. She took gymnastics classes and sang in the school chorus — a natural performer, just like her father. […]
Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Nonfiction, Story
The Magical Stranger: A Son’s Journey Into His Father’s Life
Stephen Rodrick | The Magical Stranger | 2014 | 11 minutes (2,779 words) Below is the first chapter from The Magical Stranger, Stephen Rodrick’s memoir about his father, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick. Our thanks to Rodrick for sharing it with the Longreads community.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Penny Pritzker’s Path from Family Tragedy to Business Success
How the Obama Commerce Secretary’s early family tragedies shaped her path to business and political success: Earlier this year her youngest brother, J.B., told Chicago magazine of his mother’s battles with alcohol and how the children were often left to fend for themselves. As the oldest, Penny says, she stepped in to take care of […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Who’s Resurrecting the Vinyl Market? Millennials and Their Parents
So who’s buying? Anecdotally, it’s a broad range. On a recent visit to Columbus shop Lost Weekend Records, owner Kyle Siegrist had just helped three customers who were purchasing vinyl for themselves and also for their dads for Father’s Day. The cycle seems to have gone something like this: Twenty years ago, diehard vinyl fans […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Part of Culinary School Nobody Tells You About
Laurie Woolever, in The Billfold, on how she ended up becoming Anthony Bourdain’s assistant: With my dad’s help, I took out a loan and did a 6-month professional course at the French Culinary Institute, while continuing to work part-time for the family for a few months. I soon learned that I was poorly equipped to […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Recovery Puzzle
A story about the U.S. recovery. When a factory opens up in Ohio, the person in charge of hiring people for supervisor positions finds it difficult to find the right candidates to fill the roles: “Dad’s Resume,” Bernie says to himself and shakes his head. He has an idea of what kind of person Dad’s […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Dying With Dignity: A Reading List About the Right-to-Die Debate
Should patients suffering from terminal illnesses and unbearable pain be able to make the decision to end their lives? Helping the terminally ill end their lives is illegal in all but five states in the U.S. Here, five stories looking at the right-to-die debate. 1. “Helping Dad Die: A Daughter’s Story.” (Catherine Syer, Financial Times) […]
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Man Who Became Big Bird
An interview with Caroll Spinney, who, at 81, has worked at “Sesame Street” as the puppeteer behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for 45 years.
