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All longform pieces posted on The Slow Scroll

Sarah McNally’s Book Club
Vulture29 Jan 2025 • ~4800 words

The owner of the McNally Jackson literary empire is reshaping the city’s reading life.

Will This 98-Year-Old Sculptor Ever Find a Home for His Gigantic Concrete Presidents?
Texas Monthly29 Jan 2025 • ~4850 words

David Adickes hopes to literally cement his artistic legacy by installing 43 massive busts somewhere in Texas. But he’s running out of time.

The Democratization of Information Production is Killing Democracy
The Garden of Forking Paths29 Jan 2025 • ~2900 words

The way we receive information about our world is unlike any previous generations of humanity. Paradoxically, it's destroying democracy—and Trump's America is the main canary in the coal mine.

Why Children’s Books?
London Review of Books29 Jan 2025 • ~5750 words

Katherine Rundell writes about the enduring value of children's books, highlighting their capacity to foster imagination, critical thinking, and a sense of wonder, ultimately aiding our moral development and societal understanding. What do we stand to lose as fewer and fewer chil...

In the Midst of Public Catastrophe, I Was in My Own Private Disaster
Electric Literature30 Jan 2025 • ~6150 words

In this deeply personal essay, Tessa Fontaine contrasts her mothers health crisis, a personal disaster lived in isolation, with a devastating tornado in Tuscaloosa, where she lives, a communal disaster with a shared suffering in its aftermath. She ultimately returns to the neighb...

The Future Is Too Easy
Defector28 Jan 2025 • ~3400 words

The author discusses how AI technology is increasingly taking over daily tasks, but often falls short in delivering real utility. At tech conventions, companies promote futuristic ideas while offering products that lack quality and practicality. Overall, the push for AI feels mor...

In praise of subspecies
Aeon29 Jan 2025 • ~3300 words

To lump or to split? Deciding whether an animal is a species or subspecies profoundly influences our conservation priorities

“Guaranteed Jobs” That Don’t Exist: The Dark World of Immigration Consultants
The Walrus29 Jan 2025 • ~4650 words

When it comes to immigration, it is nearly guaranteed that there are always people exploiting migrants hopes. This Walrus piece explores Kuldeep Bansal’s immigration consultancy business, which allegedly lured immigrants with promises of guaranteed jobs that did not exist, as wel...

The lucrative business of airline loyalty schemes
Financial Times29 Jan 2025 • ~2600 words

Air miles and frequent-flyer programmes drive enormous profits but risk becoming victims of their own success

Class war
New Statesman29 Jan 2025 • ~3700 words

This piece points out how private schools and inequality in education have always been a matter of debate in UK, but historically without enough political will to address it. Following some recent scrutiny and proposed tax changes for school fees, the authors call for lasting ref...