The Week’s Best Longreads: The Daily Beast Picks for August 24, 2012

Schmooze or Lose
Jane Mayer, The New Yorker

Obama doesn’t like cozying up to billionaires. Could it cost him the election?

Venus and Serena Against the World
John Jeremiah Sullivan, The New York Times Magazine

How the two sisters—and their extremely unlikely family—beat tennis.

Fear of a Black President
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

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.

Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools is Wrong
Kristina Rizga, Mother Jones

Attendance: up. Dropout rates: plummeting. College acceptance: through the roof. My mind-blowing year inside a “low-performing” school.

The Truth About the World Trade Center
Scott Rabb, Esquire

As the “Freedom Tower” reaches its full height, the inside story of boondoggles, self-dealing, common corruption, and why it has all taken so long.

The Real Indiana Jones
Tony Dokoupil, Newsweek

Forrest Fenn has hidden a million dollars’ worth of antiques—and he wants you to discover it. Is he a modern-day treasure hunter or a grave robber?

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