For a decade, Elinor Kaine Penna was the ultimate football insider, bringing the ins and outs of the nascent pro game to its fans. For SB Nation, Natalie Weiner interviews Penna—now decades removed from the press box—and highlights her ascendancy in the 1960s as an NFL reporter and whose newsletter, Lineback, became the sole imprimatur […]
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Posted inNonfiction
A Sketch Artist, a Grieving Mother, and An Unsolved Mystery
They set out to solve a cold case. The more they dug, the more terrifying the truth became.
Posted inNonfiction
The Cult That Promises to Cure Addiction
For 50 years, Enthusiastic Sobriety programs have offered to help teenagers kick drugs and alcohol. But former followers say ES doesn’t save lives—it destroys them.
Posted inNonfiction
‘This Wasn’t His First Time’
A kidnapping deemed a hoax, the newbie detective who cracked the case, and the Harvard-trained lawyer whose mental unraveling set the whole story in motion.
Posted inArts & Culture, Business, Culture, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
Sold! On Going (Once!) to Auctioneer School
“Five dollar now five gidibid five dollar now ten gidibid ten, ten now fifteen digibigit now fifteen now fifteen gidibid, now twenty?”
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2022: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
All the stories we’ve selected as number one in our weekly Top 5 newsletter.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from David Enrich, Megan Stielstra, Natalie Weiner, Mark Leviton and Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Amanda Fortini.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Kevin Ellison’s Final Journey
A troubled ex-USC football star died at 31. His family hoped that studying his brain for CTE would help others
Posted inBooks, Highlight, Science & Nature, Story
‘The Fledglings Are Out!’
“Peering in, I see that last week’s eggs are now chicks. Tiny bright-yellow beaks, mouths opening and closing silently. This is the magic.”
