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The Week’s Best Longreads: The Daily Beast Picks for Sept. 29, 2012

From Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s adult fiction debut to the Texas postman who designs for Hermès, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week.

Long Read

Mugglemarch
Ian Parker, The New Yorker

J.K. Rowling writes a realist novel for adults.

Portrait of the Artist as a Postman
Jason Sheeler, Texas Monthly

The only American designer for Hermès is a postman in Waco, Texas.

The Great New England Vampire Panic 
Abigail Tucker, Smithsonian

How 19th-century American farmers became convinced that dead relatives could rise from their graves and feed on them as vampires.

The Cop Whisperer
Ed Leibowitz, Los Angeles

Growing up in South L.A. was key training for David Ayer, the writer-director behind the LAPD saga End of Watch.

How Can We Stop Pedophiles?
Jennifer Blyer, Slate

Stop treating them like monsters.

The DemocratsRonald Reagan
Andrew Sullivan, Newsweek 

With his first term behind him, Obama is poised to be as significant a president as Reagan—tackling the deficit, spearheading immigration reform, and jolting the GOP back to sanity.

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

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About Longreads

Every week, we pick the best long-form journalism from the newest magazines and journals.

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