The New Inferiority
On the decline of America.
Collections Sponsored
The Longform Guide to Bygone New York
A collection of picks about different eras of life in New York City, inspried by Twice Upon a Time: Listening to New York, the new, multilayered essay by acclaimed author Hari Kunzru. Buy it today from Atavist Books.
The Only Time I’ve Ever Been To Connecticut
An informational interview during which the author is advised, “Find a rich husband, and then you can work at whatever you like on the side, and it doesn’t matter, because you already have money.”
The Many Lives of Aubrey Lee Price
A pastor-turned-banker fakes his own death after allegedly embezzling millions and defrauding investors.
Michael Paterniti, a correspondent for GQ, has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone and Outside. His latest book is The Telling Room.
"I want to see it, whatever it is. If it's war, if it's suffering, if it's complete, unbridled elation, I just want to see what that looks like—I want to smell it, I want to taste it, I want to think about it, I want to be caught up in it."
Thanks to this week's sponsors: TinyLetter and Hari Kunzru's Twice Upon a Time, the new title from and Atavist Books.
The Truth About Chicago's Crime Rates
The city’s drop in crime has been nothing short of miraculous. A year-long investigation into the numbers.
Check Out the Parking Lot: Hell in LA
Parking garages, prisons, freeways and the world of stuff we’re not supposed to look at.
Arrested Development
Gabrielle Williams is nine years old. She weighs just 12 pounds. The mystery of “syndrome x” and the girls who never age.
Secrets of the Stacks
How CREW and MUSTIE decide what books stay in a library's circulation.
Sponsored
Listen to New York with Hari Kunzru
Our sponsor this week is Twice Upon a Time, a new memoir from acclaimed author Hari Kunzru. When he moved to New York City, Kunzru choose as his imaginary guide the blind composer and musician Moondog, aka Louis Hardin. With great lyrical intensity Kunzru recalls the strange soundscape of an unfamiliar place, and celebrates both the city and the musical genius of Moondog.
Twice Upon a Time is the second title from Atavist Books and offers a unique, multilayered digital experience combining a beautiful prose essay on the sounds of New York with the extraordinary music of Moondog and binaural recordings of the city itself.
Animal Magnetism
Why humans love to watch other creatures.
Inside the US Government's War on Tech Support Scammers
The fall of PCCare247, an Indian company in the business of selling fixes to problems that didn’t exist.
Thug: A Life of Caravaggio in Sixty-Nine Paragraphs
Pimp, brawler, Old Master.
The Longform Guide to Commencement Addresses
</h2>David Foster Wallace, Sheryl Sandberg, Jon Stewart — a collection of classic graduation speeches.
The Professor and the Love Slave
The disturbing double life of a popular English teacher.
Rogue Element
How an anti-government militia grew on a U.S. Army base.
Making Up Hollywood
The story of Max Factor, a Polish immigrant who revoltuionized Hollywood cosmetics starting in the 1920s, and his “Beauty Calibrator” machine.
The Dogs of War
On America’s combat canines and their handlers.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "More or Less"
Tensions eat away at a relationship between a musician and his girlfriend.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, try Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
The Comfort Zone
Growing up with Charlie Brown.
Nothing Can Stay Buried
A profile of Bosnian striker Vedad Ibisevic, who has come home after escaping the war more than 20 years ago.
Editing While Female
“Places like the New York Times, Le Monde and the Washington Post are not given to elevating editors—of any gender—who would accept anything other than the highest of standards. As in tough, demanding, challenging. But there’s no doubt that many find this off-putting and threatening from a certain kind of woman. Like me.”
The Reykjavik Confessions
Why six people admitted roles in two murders they most likely didn’t commit.
The Rise of Nintendo: A Story in 8 Bits
How a Japanese company took over the American living room.
Who Gets to Graduate?
Rich students complete their college degrees; working-class students usually don’t. How one school is trying to intervene.
