In Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s fantastical short story collection, the strangest fantasy of all is that people try to act morally in a corrupt world.
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The Return of the Face
Physiognomy is a discarded 19th-century pseudoscience. Why can’t we stop practicing it?
Putting a New Stone on the Grave: Sjón Brings the Golem to Iceland
Sjón’s “CoDex 1962” is the fulfillment of a pact he made with the Maharal of Prague in the Old Jewish Cemetery almost three decades ago.
Longreads Best of 2019: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Our top picks of the year, all in one place.
Taming the Great American Desert
By advocating for agriculture in the arid West, Major John Wesley Powell challenged the way America viewed its right to develop the continent.
A Beast for the Ages
Why do we love (and fear, and kill) polar bears with so much intensity?
Just Try It, You’ll Like It, It’s Good for You
Remember when you could only buy milk that came from cows and goats, rather than nuts and seeds? We live in a post-dairy world now, and soy milk started it all.
Bruce Springsteen: Sadness, Love, Madness, and Soul
“All you needed to do,” Springsteen says, “was to risk being your true self.” We ignore our demons at our peril.
Hating Big Pharma Is Good, But Supply-Side Epidemic Theory Is Killing People
New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
Cahiers du Post-Cinéma
The movie theater was once a kind of lay church, with festivals like TIFF serving as annual religious holidays — until new houses of worship opened online.

