The Best Long Reads Of The Week
Every week, we highlight the longform articles from recent days that we think you shouldn't miss. Here are this week's picks:
My Family's Slave
Alex Tizon's memoir about Lola, the woman whom his family enslaved for 56 years in the Philippines and in America, is shocking, devastating and controversial. It's a must-read portrait of abuse, complicity and the excuses we make for loved ones even when they do monstrous things.
The Most Important Scientist You've Never Heard Of
Lucas Reilly wrote this epic story of Clair Patterson, who worked on the atomic bomb, determined the age of our planet and went to the ends of the earth to prove the dangers of lead poisoning. Reilly is an able interpreter of the scientific process and the politics that kept America from seeing the truth about lead for decades.
'The Pill Mill Of America': Where Drugs Mean There Are No Good Choices, Only Less Awful Ones
Chris Arnade paints a poignant portrait of life in the bleak, addiction-ravaged town of Portsmouth, Ohio. Arnade mostly lets his subjects speak for themselves, but he doesn't gloss over his moral obligations as a witness to so much suffering.
What Makes A Parent?
A stunning, engrossing account of a custody battle between an adoptive single mother and her ex-partner, who demanded parental rights years after the adoption. Once you get into the narrative, you won't be able to tear yourself away.
When Your Child Is A Psychopath
Barbara Bradley Hagerty's deep dive into treatment programs for children with "callous and unemotional traits" is fascinating and terrifying, but ultimately kind of optimistic about the prospect of preventing people who lack empathy from murdering others.
