The Weekly Top 5: Our Top Picks and A Bob Dylan Reading List

Meet Rest of World Magazine June 26, 2020 / View in your browser At Longreads, in addition to incisive commentary and delightfully nerdy and thought provoking features, curation is our foundation, our raison d'être. It's always a special thrill to discover a new-to-us publication and share their excellent work with you. And with that, we're proud to note that Rest of World, dedicated to documenting "what happens when technology, culture and the human experience collide, in places that are typically overlooked and underestimated" is the latest addition to our treasure trove of publications. Start with Eyes in the sky, a piece by Monica Jha about the annual Magh Mela pilgrimage and festival which draws 250 million Hindu pilgrims to the spot in northern India where the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati Rivers meet. We thought it was a great read and we think you will, too.   In addition to some archival pieces from Jonny Auping, Meaghan O’Connell, Yuval Taylor, and Jessica Wilkerson we've got a meaty reading list on Robert Allen Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, author, visual artist, and reluctant voice of his generation. (I'm reading his book, Chronicles, Volume One right now. It's pretty nifty so far.) May you find some time and a quiet space to read this week.      —KS Tangled Up in Bob Stories: A Dylan Reading List Bob Dylan playing on the Olympia stage, France, May 24, 1966, on his 25th birthday. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images Few musicians have generated as much music and as much study as this Nobel Prize winning singer-songwriter. Dylanology will last hundreds of years. Read More Weekly Top 5 Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images Read Now 1. Twelve Minutes and a Life Mitchell S. Jackson | Runner’s World | June 18, 2020 | 24 minutes (6,150 words) White people are allowed to go jogging. When Ahmaud Marquez Arbery did, he got lynched. “That Maud’s jogging made him the target of hegemonic white forces is a certain failure of America. Check the books—slave passes, vagrancy laws, Harvard’s Skip Gates arrested outside his own crib—Blacks ain’t never owned the same freedom of movement as whites.” 2. What Is Owed Nikole Hannah-Jones | The New York Times Magazine | June 24, 2020 | 34 minutes (8,663 words) A sweeping examination of racial wealth inequality in the U.S. brought about by centuries of government policies that have worked against Black Americans. Nikole Hannah-Jones argues that reparations must be the center of any policies adopted to help reduce the wealth gap. 3. 30 Years Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact Melissa Fay Greene | The Atlantic | June 22, 2020 | 38 minutes (8,748 words) Estimates say that 30 years ago under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime in Romania, 170,000 babies, children, and teens lived in “child gulags” often in filthy, horrific conditions. Deprived of loving care of any kind, those that lived were often under-developed physically and mentally, finding it hard or impossible to form attachments with other people. This is the story of one man who survived and was adopted by a family in America. 4. ‘A Chain of Stupidity’: the Skripal Case and the Decline of Russia’s Spy Agencies Luke Harding | The Guardian | June 23, 2020 | 19 minutes (4,864 words) “The new hero of journalism was no longer a grizzled investigator burning shoe leather, à la All the President’s Men, but a pasty-looking kid in front of a MacBook Air.” 5. Someone is Wrong on the Internet: A Study in Pandemic Distraction Irina Dumitrescu | LitHub | June 19, 2020 | 10 minutes (2,719 words) What do you do when all productivity hacks, parenting tips, and writing tricks lead to the same outcome — a total, pandemic-induced inability to focus? FROM OUR SPONSOR Noom Ditch the fad diets and switch to Noom, the future of health. Noom blends personal coaching, cognitive behavioral therapy, and artificial intelligence to help you lose weight long-term. Live a happier, healthier life with Noom. This Week in Books and A Birth Story This Week in Books: Farewell Longreads! I’m Taking This Rodeo to Substack. To read Dana Snitzky's “This Week in Books” newsletter in the future, be sure to follow her on substack. A Birth Story Meaghan O’Connell had a perfect pregnancy and the perfect birth plan — and then she went into labor. Hand-Selected Reading   When Zora and Langston Took a Road Trip In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston gave Langston Hughes a lift to Tuskegee in her Nash coupe, nicknamed “Sassy Susie.” It was one of most fortuitous hangouts in literary history.  Decolonizing Knowledge: Stefan Bradley on the Fight for Civil Rights in the Ivy League In the 1960s, black students at the Ivies organized and protested for fair treatment, their personal safety, to create black studies programs, and to stop their universities from harming local black communities through expansion and urban renewal. Living with Dolly Parton Asking difficult questions often comes at a cost. A History of American Protest Music: Which Side Are You On? Just as we were in the 1930s and ’60s, America is suffering a moral crisis. We have to decide which side we are on: hate and exclusion, or justice, inclusion, and democracy? Read More Enjoy This Week In Books? Be sure to follow Dana Snitzky's thoughtful and witty literary commentary in The End of the World Review over at substack.