He was was a self-made, blue-collar millionaire in Reagan’s America. But when Percy Ross decided to give away his fortune, he made things simple: all you had to do was ask for it.
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Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
Pregnant, then Ruptured
After an emergency operation, Joanna Petrone considers the medical advances and legal protections that allow women to survive ectopic pregnancies.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Urge
Oliver Sacks’s last essay for the New York Review of Books, which looks at a man with Klüver-Bucy syndrome, “which manifests itself as insatiable eating and sexual drive, sometimes combined with irritability and distractibility, all on a purely physiological basis.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Would You Design a Memorial for World War III?
Architect Maya Lin was a senior at Yale when she designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In a 2000 essay for the New York Review of Books—which she began writing around the memorial’s completion in fall 1982 and then put aside for nearly two decades—she reflects on how she came to enter in the competition, and the […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
On Island: Journeying to Penal Colonies, from Rikers to Robben
On journeys to Rikers Island in New York City and Robben Island in South Africa, Roohi Choudhry examines issues of incarceration and racism, and envisions a day when the convicted are no longer exiled to penal colonies.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
The Admission
Stacy Torres recalls the mixture of frustration and relief that came with checking herself into a New York City psych ward at the age of 20.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Pulse Nightclub Was My Home
On the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Edgar Gomez reflects on what a safe haven the club was for him and others — maybe even shooter Omar Mateen.
Posted inCurrent Events, Profiles & Interviews, Story
An Unforgiving Legal System Welcomes Black Immigrants to America
The Black Alliance for Just Immigration helps those affected by racial profiling and harsh immigration laws.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. Unclimbable Eva Holland | SB Nation | May 21, 2015 | 31 minutes (7,907 words) Eva Holland explores what it means to […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Thank You, Jon Gnagy: An Appreciation of a Predecessor to Bob Ross
Ned Stuckey-French reflects on the host of Learn to Draw, the “middlebrow” instructional art show he loved as a kid.
