Death of a Building
A historic Little Rock building and its owner, before and after a catastrophic fire.
A historic Little Rock building and its owner, before and after a catastrophic fire.
Paul Reyes Oxford American Apr 2013 25min Permalink
The NFL attempts to set up a beachhead in China.
An 8th-generation Louisvillian on the Kentucky Derby, bourbon and the history of his hometown.
Michael Lindenberger Roads & Kingdoms May 2013 15min Permalink
“No one works better out of anguish at all; that’s an incredible literary conceit.”
James Baldwin, Jordan Elgrably The Paris Review Apr 1984 35min Permalink
Every weekday, our editors recommend one short story from across the web on Longform Fiction. Three picks from this week:
Mexican Manifesto
Roberto Bolaño • New Yorker
A series of mysterious, dangerous interactions in a Mexican bathhouse.
Babushka
Sarah Gentile • Vol. 1 Brooklyn
A baby born in New Jersey grows and takes on the characteristics of a headstrong Russian woman.
Stan's Report
Glen Pourciau • AGNI
Tension between two co-workers turns into a complicated game of lies and intentions.
Find more stories on Longform Fiction or delivered directly in the Longform App.
Creation of a fast food phenomenon.
Austin Carr Fast Company May 2013 10min Permalink
Meet Krystal Ryan. She left her abusive husband.
Natasha Gardner 5280 May 2013 25min Permalink
On August 13, 1986, Michael Morton came home from work to discover that his wife had been brutally murdered in their bed. His nightmare had only begun.
Pamela Colloff Texas Monthly 50min
During the 25 years that Michael Morton spent wrongfull imprisoned for murdering his wife, he kept three things in mind: Someday he would prove his innocence to their son. Someday he would find out who killed her. And someday he would understand how this had happened to him.
The miracle of the great Zanesville zoo escape—which began last fall when a depressed, desperate man named Terry Thompson set free his vast collection of exotic animals—was that not a single innocent person was hurt. The incident made global news. It also thrust into daylight, if only for a brief moment, a secret world of privately owned exotic animals living off the grid, and often right next door. We sent Chris Heath to Zanesville, Ohio, to find out where the wild things are—and what the hell they’re doing there.
Chris Heath GQ 45min
As a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with America’s original sin, slavery. But as our first black president, he has avoided mention of race almost entirely. In having to be “twice as good” and “half as black,” Obama reveals the false promise and double standard of integration.
Ta-Nehisi Coates The Atlantic 40min
In 2011 the Legislature slashed funding for women’s health programs and launched an all-out war on Planned Parenthood that has dramatically changed the state’s priorities. A year later, the battle is still raging, and the stakes could not be higher.
Mimi Swartz Texas Monthly 35min
The author visits Camp Trans, an annual protest organized after the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival evicted a transsexual woman.
Michelle Tea The Believer Nov 2003 1h Permalink
How OxyContin permeated one small town.
Ann Silversides Maisonneuve Apr 2013 30min Permalink
On the holy city of Canudos, and other attempts at better living “by the dispossessed and marginalized the world over.”
Jacob Mikanowski The Awl Apr 2013 15min Permalink
A legal battle over stolen computer monitors ends one man’s career and the lives of three others.
Brantley Hargrove Dallas Observer May 2013 20min Permalink
In the days following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, more than 100 cities experienced significant civil disturbance. In New York, everyone expected riots. What happened next.
Clay Risen The Morning News Jan 2009 10min Permalink
Natasha Vargas-Cooper has written for GQ, Spin and BuzzFeed.
"Writing is the worst part of this gig for me. I hate sitting down and writing; it's being with my worst self. … But then, when it's over, it's the best. I have no greater joy than reading what I've published—with the exception of some editors who have fucked up my shit."</i>
Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode!
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May 2013 Permalink
On Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh, “the world’s most wanted terrorist not named Osama bin Laden,” whose death five years ago remains a mystery.
Mark Perry Foreign Policy Apr 2013 15min Permalink
The brief life and complicated death of Tommy Lasorda’s gay son.
Peter Richmond GQ Oct 1992 30min Permalink
A profile of the country music legend.
Nick Tosches Texas Monthly Jul 1994 25min Permalink
Excerpts from the once-classified journals of a current prisoner.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Slate Apr 2013 1h5min Permalink
The story of three peace activists — a drifter, an 82-year-old nun and a house painter — who penetrated the exterior of Y-12 in Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear-weapons facilities in the United States.
Dan Zak Washington Post Apr 2013 40min Permalink
A captured bank robber makes a remarkable claim.
Tom Schoenberg Businessweek Apr 2013 10min Permalink
“It’s insanity to kill your father with a kitchen knife. It’s also insanity to close hospitals, fire therapists, and leave families to face mental illness on their own.”
Mac McClelland Mother Jones Apr 2013 35min Permalink
Libor, ISDAfix, and how the big banks do business.
Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone Apr 2013 15min Permalink
Kosovo’s leaders have been accused of grotesque war crimes. But can anyone prove it?
Nicholas Schmidle New Yorker May 2013 35min Permalink
The story of the manhunt.
Globe Staff The Boston Globe Apr 2013 55min Permalink
How social psychologist Diederik Stapel committed and rationalized an audacious academic fraud, and what his lies reveal about the culture of scientific research.
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee New York Times Magazine Apr 2013 20min Permalink