The Week’s Best Longreads: The Daily Beast Picks for July 21, 2012

Should a Parent-Killer Go Free?
Scott Anderson, The New York Times Magazine

Nineteen years ago, at age 14, Ousley murdered his mother and father. So why does he think he deserves to get out of prison?

The Wedding
Katherine Goldstein, Slate

Will and Erwynn met at church and fell in love. But they had a big problem—“don’t ask, don’t tell.” The unlikely story of the first gay military union.

Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math
Bill McKibben, Rolling Stone

Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe, and make clear who the real enemy is.

Dreaming of a World Without Intellectuals
Russell Jacoby, The Chronicle Review

Conservative intellectuals’ flight from elitism led to a populist swamp peopled by autodidacts and fundamentalists.

“Everyone Only Wants Temps”
Gabriel Thompson, Mother Jones

My stint doing "on demand" grunt work for one of America's hottest growth industries.

The Bookless Library
David A. Bell, The New Republic

Don’t deny the change. Direct it wisely.

For more great longreads, visit our friends at Longreads.com.