Dan P. Lee on the director and Oscar contender: I’d seen 12 Years the night before, at the huge cineplex in downtown L.A. My friend sobbed quietly through a good portion of it. At least one black couple left midway. As we walked out of the theater, no one seemed to be speaking; breaking the […]
Search results
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
How a Great American Theatrical Family Produced the 19th Century’s Most Notorious Assassin
The celebrated tragedians of the Booth family let Shakespeare’s themes seep into their own relationships. Hubris, glory, the legacy of a dead father, brotherly rivalry, and a powerful delusion led the family—and the nation—to catastrophe.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Kidnapping Case: Seizure and Recovery
Solomon [Northup], the subject of the following narrative, is a free colored citizen of the United States; was born in Essex County, New York, about the year 1808; became early a resident of Washington County, and married there in 1829. His father and mother resided in the county of Washington about fifty years, till their […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘Still, God Helps You’
The story of William Mawwin, who was kidnapped in Sudan when he was six years old and sold into slavery. Mawwin eventually escaped, and, at 34, is going to college in the U.S.: “In the morning I cook, bring his tea, black tea with milk, his bread. I cook the bread, too. I fold his […]
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. The Worst Day Of My Life Is Now New York’s Hottest Tourist Attraction Steve Kandell | BuzzFeed | May 20, 2014 | […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
3 Stories from Young Journalists Honored at the Livingston Awards
The Livingston Awards are handed out every year to celebrate outstanding work from journalists under 35. Here are this year’s winning stories, honored this week in New York: “Slavery’s Last Stronghold” (John D. Sutter & Edythe McNamee, CNN.com) International Reporting winner: A trip to Mauritania, where an estimated 10% to 20% of the population lives in slavery. […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
U.S. Out of Vermont!
A secession movement has been blossoming in the liberal state of Vermont: “In Vermont, Bryan says, there is ‘a commonality of people opposed to large distant bureaucracies telling them how to live their lives. It’s the decentralist commonality of the libertarian right and what I’d call the communitarian left. The right opposes big government, the […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Florida Farm Workers Tell How Drugs, Debt Bind Them in Modern Slavery
A former crack addict sues a Florida farm, accusing the owners of modern-day slavery—set up to live in an environment that preyed on his addiction and left him without a paycheck: “There’s something going on in this small town and it might be hard to care because the victims are often homeless black men who […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
In the New Gangland of El Salvador
As US immigration policy has focused on deporting the greatest possible number of undocumented migrants, no matter what their situation, a great many Salvadoran deportees, some of whom grew up in the United States and hardly speak Spanish, have found themselves back in their country of birth. A number of these unwilling returnees are mareros, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Slavery Really Ended in America
Butler was no abolitionist, but the three slaves presented a problem. True, the laws of the United States were clear: all fugitives must be returned to their masters. The founding fathers enshrined this in the Constitution; Congress reinforced it in 1850 with the Fugitive Slave Act; and it was still the law of the land […]
