The traditional telling of the medieval sack of Rome might go something like this: In 1527, Charles of Bourbon led his army in an assault on Pope Clement VII’s Rome, promising his soldiers that they’d be paid in the Eternal City’s plunder. Bourbon was killed in the assault, but the …
Read More »How a Writer Salvaged Love for His Schizophrenic Brother Who Killed Their Mom
In his new memoir, Everything is Fine, Vince Granata explores grief, mental illness, and the bonds of family as he delves into the tragedy of his mother’s 2014 death at the hands of his schizophrenic brother, Tim. Using a mix of personal essay and journalism, Vince pieces together his mother’s …
Read More »How 'Indigenous Nancy Drew' Novel 'Firekeeper's Daughter' Caught the Eye of the Obamas
When Angeline Boulley was working on her young adult fiction debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter, she decided she needed to know how to make meth. “I learned how to make meth from the State Police Academy,” she tells Rolling Stone. “I was able to take a workshop at the Academy and it …
Read More »Inside Miami's Most Chaotic Year
Ten days before Christmas 1979, 33-year-old Arthur McDuffie, a Marine and a manager at a life insurance company, had already wrapped presents for his two young daughters, but he never got the chance to deliver them. In the early hours of December 17th, a group of cops beat McDuffie into …
Read More »For Toni Morrison, Who Taught Me to See
I write directly to you, Ms. Morrison, because I know no other way to do this. It is a selfish act, since I currently lack any faith that some divine deliverer or cosmic accident will get this message to you as easily as if I’d sent it to your Princeton …
Read More »5 Books to Read If You're Obsessed With the Adnan Syed Case
The first episode of HBO’s new documentary, The Case Against Adnan Syed, premiered this past Sunday, once again bringing the murder conviction of the Baltimore man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend back into the headlines. Syed, the subject of the popular 2014 podcast, “Serial,” is currently serving a life sentence …
Read More »'Spotify Teardown' Is the Book Spotify Didn't Want Published
What do you know about Spotify, the Swedish music company? Five researchers who have spent the last several years investigating the inner workings of the global platform would argue that it is neither particularly Swedish nor truly a music company: They posit that Spotify is a shape-shifting tech business, serving …
Read More »'Cat Person' Author Kristen Roupenian's Daring New Fiction for the Era of #MeToo
When Kristen Roupenian wrote “Cat Person” in the spring of 2017, she didn’t expect the premise — a young woman’s brief relationship with an older man, the uncomfortable sex they share and the vitriol he spews at her after she ends things — to hit a nerve. But when the …
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