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. * * *
The Atlantic
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The History of Weak American Beer
In The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker writes about the historical conditions that shaped the flavor and body of America’s popular commercial brews. Like the cultural melting pot of America itself, various factors, including market forces, thirsty laborers, WWII rationing, religious movements and the idea of temperance all thinned our big brand beers into the light, offensively […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quotes
It’s Not Just About the Minimum Wage: Barbara Ehrenreich Revisits Her Book
So what is the solution to the poverty of so many of America’s working people? Ten years ago, when Nickel and Dimed first came out, I often responded with the standard liberal wish list — a higher minimum wage, universal health care, affordable housing, good schools, reliable public transportation, and all the other things we, […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Pirates on the ‘Postmodern Ocean’ Are Getting More Professional
Piracy and armed robbery at sea are on the rise, according to Deutsche Welle, which noted “the increasing professionalism of the pirates” in a recent report focused on Southeast Asia. “The Outlaw Ocean,” Ian Urbina’s ongoing New York Times series chronicling lawlessness at sea, says many merchant vessels have been hiring private security as protection. […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
A Commercial Surrogacy Gone Wrong in Thailand
It seems as if everyone is a victim in this story: The commissioning parents, the surrogate mother and the baby, too. Maneenuchanert disagrees. “I don’t feel sad for them,” she says. “Patidta is the only victim here, because they don’t allow her to see the baby. They see the baby as a product that comes […]
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. * * *
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Prison Nurseries Help Incarcerated Mothers and Their Babies
Sarah Yager reports in The Atlantic about how nursery prisons are helping incarcerated mothers and their babies.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What Happens When We Run Out of Jobs?
After 300 years of breathtaking innovation, people aren’t massively unemployed or indentured by machines. But to suggest how this could change, some economists have pointed to the defunct career of the second-most-important species in U.S. economic history: the horse. For many centuries, people created technologies that made the horse more productive and more valuable—like plows […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
‘We Have to Do Better’: A Reading List on the Charleston Church Massacre
We have to demand accountability from one another and stand up for people of color—in the streets, in our Facebook feeds, in our offices and homes.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
‘We Have to Do Better’: A Reading List on the Charleston Church Massacre
We have to demand accountability from one another and stand up for people of color—in the streets, in our Facebook feeds, in our offices and homes.