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From Eric Cantor’s effort to redeem his party to the military’s culture of rape and coverup, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
The House of Pain
Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker
Can Eric Cantor redeem his party and himself?
We Aren’t the World
Ethan Watters, Pacific Standard
Joe Henrich and his colleagues are shaking the foundations of psychology and economics—and hoping to change the way social scientists think about human behavior and culture.
The Rape of Petty Officer Blunter
Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Rolling Stone
Inside the military’s culture of sex abuse, denial and coverup.
In the Footsteps of a Killer
Michelle McNamara, Los Angeles
From 1976 to 1986, one of the most violent serial criminals in American history terrorized communities throughout California. He was little known, never caught, and might still be out there. The author, along with several others, can’t stop working on the case.
From the chilling science of addictive junk food to the France’s amusing war over the actor Gérard Depardieu, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
Michael Moss, The New York Times Magazine
Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American “stomach share.”
L’Étranger
Lauren Collins, The New Yorker
Gérard Depardieu and France part ways.
Bitter Pill
Steven Brill, Time
Why medical bills are killing us.
The Evolution of Irregular War
Max Boot, Foreign Affairs
Pundits tend to treat terrorism and guerrilla tactics as something new, but nothing could be further from the truth.
From the young Republicans trying to save their party from certain death to the sinking of a ship that never should have sailed, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week.
Sunk
Kathryn Miles, Outside
The incredible truth about a ship that never should have sailed.
Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence?
Robert Draper, The New York Times Magazine
To drag the GOP into the 21st century, young, tech-savvy dissidents may have to overthrow their party’s disconnected old guard.
When a 10-Year-Old Kills His Nazi Father, Who’s to Blame?
Natasha Vargas-Cooper, Buzzfeed
Joseph Hall, an abused and neglected 10-year-old, was convicted last month of murdering his father, a neo-Nazi leader. His sentencing is scheduled for this week—but who do you punish when a child becomes a cold-blooded killer?
Why Can’t Beyoncé Have It All?
Nitsuh Abebe, New York
From the neurologist who became a mass murderer to the GOP’s plans to win elections without a majority, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week.
“A Loaded Gun”
Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker
The tragic past of a University of Alabama neurologist who became a mass murderer.
“Greetings From Williston, North Dakota”
Stephen Rodrick, Men’s Journal
In recession-strapped America, Williston, North Dakota, may be some kind of paradise: a town where oil jobs are plentiful, lap dances are cheap, and desperate—possibly meth-addicted—men can change their luck. On the loose in the new Wild West.
“Frank Ocean Can Fly”
Jeff Himmelman, The New York Times Magazine
Being the hottest thing in pop music means believing you can do absolutely anything you want.
“The Idealist”
Justin Peters, Slate
Aaron Swartz wanted to save the world. Why couldn’t he save himself?
“Who Needs to Win to Win?”
Jonathan Chait, New York
From the inside story of how NBC’s ‘Smash’ went off the rails to the surviving billionaire relatives of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
How Smash Became Network TV’s Biggest Trainwreck
Kate Aurthur, BuzzFeed
Smash was supposed to be the show that saved NBC—but people laughed at it instead. How did it all go so wrong?
The Lost Russians
Mike Dash, Smithsonian.com
In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, cut off from all human contact for 40 years, unaware that World War II had happened.
Nazi Goebbels' Stepchildren Are Hidden Billionaires
David de Jong, Bloomberg
The multibillion-dollar family business passed down to the surviving step-children of Joseph Goebbels has a history intertwined with Germany's quest for domination in the 20th century.
The NRA vs. America
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone
From the the battle over how much military is enough to the lifestyle of Israel’s illegal settlers in the West Bank, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
The Price of a Stolen Childhood
Emily Bazelon, The New York Times Magazine
Victims of child pornography can now collect damages directly from those convicted of possessing their images. But how much can restitution help them repair their lives?
The Force
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker
How much military is enough?
Living the American Dream in the West Bank
Kiera Feldman, Vice
Hanging out with Israel’s illegal homesteaders.
Siri Rising
Bianca Bosker, The Huffington Post
The inside story of Siri’s origins, and why she could soon overshadow the iPhone.
The Red and the Black
Seth Ackerman, Jacobin
The economics of a feasible socialism.
Hands Off Our Guns
David Mamet, Newsweek
The individual is not only best qualified to provide his own personal defense, he is the only one qualified to do so.
For more great longreads, visit our friends at Longreads.com.
AP (Manti Te'o), Getty (Crown Heights)
From the bizarre revelation that Manti Teo’s dead girlfriend was a hoax to the growing power of the Israeli far right, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
Manti Teo’s Dead Girlfriend
Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey, Deadspin
The most heartbreaking and inspiring story of the college football season is a hoax.
Which Way Did the Taliban Go?
Luke Mogelson, The New York Times Magazine
Digging out roadside bombs, running into ambushes and dancing with deranged informants—a week in the life of an Afghan National Army battalion, on its own in the wilderness.
The Party Faithful
David Remnick, The New Yorker
The settlers move to annex the West Bank—and Israeli politics.
Coming Home
John Dickerson, Slate
Returning to parenting after 16 months on the campaign trail.
From an up-close portrait of Lindsay Lohan’s struggle to stay in line to the science behind pedophilia, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.
How to Catch a Falling Star
Stephen Rodrick, The New York Times Magazine
A fading director (Paul Shrader), a troubled actress (Lindsay Lohan), and a disciplined porn star (James Deen) walk onto a movie set...
The Self in Self-Help
Kathryn Schulz, New York
We have no idea what a self is. So how can we fix it?
The Science of Sex Abuse
Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker
Is it right to imprison people for heinous crimes they have not yet committed?
Thank You for Fracking
Tom Chiarella, Esquire
There's a gold rush going on right now. Man is breaking the earth, looking for natural gas—just as we always have. It's a mad scene, with hucksters on every side of the issue. And that's just on the surface. You won't believe what's happening underground.
From a master pickpocket’s astounding mind control to Tom Wolfe’s scathing return to Wall Street, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week.
The Rise of DIY Abortions
Ada Calhoun, The New Republic
Jennie Linn McCormack took pills to end her pregnancy and hid the fetus under her bed. Her case could change the course of abortion law in America.
What’s Inside America’s Banks?
Frank Partnoy and Jesse Eisinger, The Atlantic
A close investigation of the enormous risks that banks may still be hiding—and a blueprint for how to avert another crisis.
A Pickpocket’s Tale
Adam Green, The New Yorker
The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins, the magician who tests the limits of the human mind.
George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year
Joel Lovell, The New York Times Magazine
The brutal, beautiful vision of a great American storyteller.
Getty (lower left)
From the sprawling sex-abuse scandal that shattered an Oklahoma megachurch to the shocking, decades-long ordeal of an innocent man convicted in Texas, The Daily Beast picks the best essays and journalism of the year.
Grace in Broken Arrow
Kiera Feldman, This Land
How lust, greed, and denial corroded an Oklahoma megachurch and shattered the lives of its victims and their families.
On Aug. 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.
The Yankee Comandante
David Grann, The New Yorker
A story of love, revolution, and betrayal.
The Tryhards
Freddie de Boer, The New Inquiry
Liberal pundits are surprisingly radical in their critiques of American meritocracy. But their material comfort and proximity to power forces them to compromise their real convictions.
Jason Alden/Bloomberg, via Getty Images
From the man behind America’s favorite doomsday shovel to an American gadfly at the Bank of England, The Daily Beast brings you the best business and finance journalism for the week of December 23, 2012.
Meet The Entrepreneur Behind The Apocalypse's Must-Have Accessory
Chadwick Matlin, BuzzFeed
How did Tim Ralston become America’s most famous “prepper”? He built the ultimate end-of-civilization tool: a weaponized shovel.
The Full Story Of How Facebook IPO Buyers Got Screwed
Henry Blodget, Business Insider
When Facebook was shopping its IPO, it realized that its earnings might not be as good as they expected. Who did the company tell? Only a few big-time investors
The Bribery Aisle: How Walmart Got Its Way in Mexico
David Barstow and Alejanda Xaniv von Bertrab, The New York Times
Mexico is one of the fastest growing middle-income countries in the world. Walmart needed to expand there fast. And so it resorted to systematic bribes.
The King of Con-men
The Economist
You think that Argentina does badly with its sovereign debt? It’s nothing compared to Poyais, the small Latin American country that defaulted on its debt in the 1820s. Why? It was the invention of a Scotsman named Gregor MacGregor.
From Zadie Smith’s reflections on the meaning of joy to a made-up language that went haywire, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week.
Joy
Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books
What is it, and why does it hurt so much?
Jerry Seinfeld Intends to Die Standing Up
Jonah Weiner, The New York Times Magazine
The comedy star is 58, rich beyond imagination and still working.
Utopia for Beginners
Joshua Foer, The New Yorker
An amateur linguist loses control of the language he invented.
How a Gun-Loving West Texas Girl Learned to Fear Assault Weapons
Haley B. Elkins, XOJane
For every outraged indigence about “trampling” on the second amendment, with every word and breath, I am that young woman again, sitting in her truck in a parking lot, alone except for a 911 operator.
The Woes of an American Drone Operator
Nicola Abé, Der Spiegel
A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can’t do it anymore.
The Shit We’re In
John Lanchester, The London Review of Books
The failure of Britain’s finances.
For more great longreads, visit our friends at Longreads.com.
The Economist magazine is seen on display at a newsagents in London, U.K., in October 2012. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg, via Getty Images)
From what one journalist learned from ‘The Economist’ to the dark side of a fondly remembered banker, The Daily Beast brings you the best business-and-finance journalism for the week of December 14.
17 Things I Learned From Reading Every Last Word of The Economist’s “The World in 2013” Issue
Mark Leibovich, The New York Times Magazine
Since college, Leibovich has been telling friends he reads The Economist. What happens when he actually does?
What Those Glowing Obits Didn't Tell You About Joe Allbritton
Ken Silverstein, The New Republic
Joseph Allbritton, who died this week, was remembered in the press as a kindly banker and media mogul, but he was also Pinochet’s favorite banker.
Building a Showcase Campus, Using an I.O.U.
Andrew Martin, The New York Times
All too often, students go deep into debt in pursuit of college degrees that may not pay off. Are the colleges doing the same thing with their massive building boom?
Meet Them in St. Louis: Bankers Move
Dan Fitzpatrick, The Wall Street Journal
St. Louis is doing everything it can be become the next financial hub: one brokerage is even building a bull statue.
FT Person of the Year: Mario Draghi
By Lionel Barber and Michael Steen, Financial Times
This summer, European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said “the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.” He wasn’t bluffing.
In the wake of the massacre of 27 people in Newtown, Conn., The Daily Beast picks the best journalism about America’s deadly history of gun violence and the debate surrounding it.
The Secret History of Gun Rights
Adam Winkler, The Atlantic
The Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Reagan, and, for most of its history, the NRA all worked to control guns. The Founding Fathers? They required gun ownership—and regulated it. And no group has more fiercely advocated the right to bear loaded weapons in public than the Black Panthers—the true pioneers of the modern pro-gun movement. In the battle over gun rights in America, both sides have distorted history and the law, and there’s no resolution in sight.
12 Facts About Guns in the U.S.
Ezra Klein, The Washington Post
Eleven of the 20 worst mass shootings of the past 50 years happened in America, and more disturbing facts.
Glock: America’s Gun
Paul Barrett, Businessweek
How Gaston Glock—a former curtain-rod maker from Austria whose company manufactured the pistols used in Tucson and Killeen—managed to dominate not just the American handgun market, but America's gun consciousness.
From the real story of a CIA financier’s brutal murder to Afghanistan’s basketball culture, The Daily Beast picks the best post-election journalism from around the Web this week.
The Heiress
Ken Aluetta, The New Yorker
The measured rise of Elisabeth Murdoch.
James Bond and the Killer Bag Lady
Mark Ames and Alexander Zaitchick, Salon
New clues and a powerful Wall St. skeptic challenge the official story of CIA financier Nick Deak’s brutal murder.
The Basketball Diaries, Afghanistan
Peretz Partensky, n+1
Playing basketball was one of the last things I thought I would do in Afghanistan. Yet, there I was, in a foreign land, in a barely comprehensible cultural landscape, in a stinky hotel, mediating an inter-ethnic conflict in the guise of a skirmish on the court.
A Bishop Behind Bars
M.L. Nestel and Jebediah Reed, The Daily
An Amish sect leader tells of the beard-cutting that could lock him up for life.
Chris Hughes is About to Turn 100
Carl Swanson, New York
The Facebook co-founder has already served as Mark Zuckerberg’s in-house humanist and Barack Obama’s digital consigliere. Now, in buying the venerable, century-old New Republic, he’s out to prove that a 29-year-old worth $600 million is just the man to make the “life of the mind” scalable.
An Intimidated Victim Testifies
Allison Yarrow, The Daily Beast
A young woman from Brooklyn’s tightly knit Satmar community breaks with it to stand by her allegation that a community elder raped her.
For more great longreads, visit our friends at Longreads.com.
About Longreads
Every week, we pick the best long-form journalism from the newest magazines and journals.
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