Welcome back to the long-dormant Sunday Long Read podcast! We're reviving our audio presence with a discussion between Don and Emily Kaplan, who wrote a piece copublished this week by the SLR and Pipe Wrench Magazine. It's about Mormons, Mexico, and the malleable nature of truth (among many other things). You can find it on sundaylongread.com and pipewrenchmag.com, where it is the centerpiece of their "road trip" issue.

The SLR pod will return in 2023! We encourage you to stay tuned for more conversations about writing, reporting, and storytelling. If there are guests you'd like us to talk to, you can reach out to editors@sundaylongread.com and if you're a writer who'd like to work with us, you can reach out to originals@sundaylongread.com. 

Tim Urban is a popular blogger and the co-founder of “Wait But Why,” a site that discusses a wide variety of topics including picking the right career path, SpaceX rockets, and love. His most recent mammoth work is “The Story of Us,” a re-tracing of how we got to this political moment.[1:06] The origins of “Wait But Why”[8:39] “Outqualitying” other websites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy early on[17:14] Asking readers for money[19:00] Kurzgesagt[23:55] of-us.html">On “The Story of Us”[46:39] labs-echo-chambers.html">On echo chambers [51:13] The possibility of presidential-debate.html">writing about politics

There are few couples like Deborah and James Fallows, who have spent more than half a decade talking to people and visiting communities across America to produce "Our Towns," a New York Times bestseller, published last year, and an online series for The Atlantic. They're some of the smartest, most diligent people reporting on the state of the country today and they joined Jacob for a two-in-one SLR podcast to discuss their distinct reporting styles, the power of positive reporting, and the lessons they've learned from their travels. 1:30: Dayton, Ohio, Moves Forward6:00: "Our Towns" project with The Atlantic7:30: Muncie bridges the Town-Gown divide16:00: "Our Towns" book website21:00 The Charlie Peters School of Journalism38:00: Follow Jim and Deb on Twitter

Charles Duhigg is a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the author of The Power of Habit, and a magazine writer who most recently published an in-depth look at Amazon's world-eating growth for The New Yorker.“The first question I might ask is, ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t know enough to know what question to ask you. What do you think is the most interesting thing I could ask you about x?’ It catches them off guard ... and they always come up with some suggested question that never would have occurred to me — because they know their own brain better than I could ever know it by asking them questions to get at it.”Jacob and Charles discuss how every corporate job at Amazon is really the same, how longform and books allow a conversation around a subject to linger, and reporting style and tips for podcasts, print and books — including using LinkedIn to find sources and stories.Charles can be found on Twitter @cduhigg and emailed at charles@charlesduhigg.com (he promises to get back to anyone who reaches out).[0:57] Is Amazon Unstoppable? (New Yorker, 10.10.19)[1:09] Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property? (New Yorker, 10.15.18)[9:52] The iEconomy (New York Times, 2012)[10:41] Covering the Cops (New Yorker, 2.9.86)[14:31] Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame (BuzzFeed News, 8.31.19)[14:32] His Mother Was Killed by a Van Making Amazon Deliveries. Here’s the Letter He Wrote to Jeff Bezos. (ProPublica, 9.5.19)[14:40] Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products (Wall Street Journal, 8.23.19)[14:50] Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan (The Atlantic, 10.10.19)[16:39] “On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane” (Little, Brown and Company, 2019)[18:23] Emily Guendelsberger’s Twitter thread (10.18.19)[23:01] “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” (Random House, 2012[23:01] “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business” (Random House, 2016)[28:58] “How To!” Podcast (Slate, 2019)[51:30] Zuckerberg: Standing For Voice and Free Expression (Washington Post, 10.17.19)

"I kind of think of myself as a nature writer disguised as a food writer. Because food is a great way to write about plants and animals because everyone has a built-in interest, " Rowan Jacobsen is an award-winning author who writes about food, sustainability, and the environment. Jacob and Rowan discuss how the latter delved into the world of food writing and some of his work including "manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=d3327507c6&e=a8a538c59a" href="https://sundaylongread.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=d3327507c6&e=a8a538c59a">Is Sunscreen The New Margarine" for Outside, which became the most popular article in their website's history. [1:09] How does one become a food writer? [4:41] Rowan on manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=2d52d4ba48&e=a8a538c59a" href="https://sundaylongread.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=2d52d4ba48&e=a8a538c59a">"Is Sunscreen The New Margarine"[8:17] On Rowan equating lack of sun to smoking [12:25] Rowan on manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=740d6bc98e&e=a8a538c59a" href="https://sundaylongread.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=740d6bc98e&e=a8a538c59a">"What Happens When the World’s Top Plastics Executives and Environmentalists Go Snorkeling Together in the Atlantic Garbage Patch?" [21:40] Rowan on manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=5129a7fbd2&e=a8a538c59a" href="https://sundaylongread.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e1ae4ac632498a38c1d57c54&id=5129a7fbd2&e=a8a538c59a">Alt Meat Is Turning Cattle into Stranded Assets[28:38] On reading content that doesn’t take into account certain factors that endanger the environment [32:09] On not reading any fiction

Jessica Contrera covers a wide range of topics as a narrative reporter for the Washington Post and in this week's podcast she chats with Don about her happiest (and saddest) stories, taking care of her mental health while covering traumatic events, and the positive influence a good editor has on a young reporter. Jessica has been featured several times in the Sunday Long Read newsletter and the stories of hers that we've highlighted include a deep dive about sexting teenagers, a piece about the ongoing recovery of mass shooting victims, and a delightful tale about one particularly controversial dog park. 

Episode Links:

Dog Park: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-excessive-barking-a-chevy-chase-dog-park-divides-the-rich-and-powerful/2019/08/27/0b9fd242-c4e5-11e9-9986-1fb3e4397be4_story.html

Sexting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/09/06/the-sext-was-meant-to-impress-him-instead-it-nearly-destroyed-her/?utm_term=.375aacad9435

Parkland students: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/i-would-rather-not-be-alone-behind-their-anger-florida-students-are-still-teens-struggling-with-trauma/2018/02/20/5e21bb40-1661-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html

Zach Cruz: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2019/01/25/feature/his-brother-confessed-to-gunning-down-17-people-in-parkland-but-hes-the-only-family-zach-cruz-has-left/

Trauma Stewardship: https://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Stewardship-Everyday-Caring-Others/dp/157675944X

Jessica's biography: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jessica-contrera/ 

The Waffle House: waffle-house.html">https://www.jessicacontrera.com/the-waffle-house.html

The best-selling author, GQ correspondent, and National Magazine Award Finalist is the latest guest on The Sunday Long Read Podcast. Laskas discusses her books and articles including To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope, her New York Times Magazine article "The Mailroom", and her GQ article "Game Brain" which inspired the movie "Concussion."[0:49] Jeanne Marie on her book tour for “To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope”[1:54] How she came up with the idea for the book, based off “americans-wrote-to-obama.html?_r=0">Ten Letters A Day: To Obama With Love, and Hate, and Desperation” for New York Times Magazine[8:07] Jeanne Marie on Joe Biden: The Most Misunderstood Man in Washington for GQ[18:32] Writing Bennet Omalu, Concussions, and the NFL: How One Doctor Changed Football Forever[26:50] Jeanne Marie on her writing craft, characters, and narrative arc/Inside the Federal Bureau of Way Too Many Guns[38:43] Jeanne Marie on advising students

Will Leitch founded Deadspin nearly 14 years ago. Since 2008, Leitch has written and worked outside of the site, most recently as a contributing editor at New York Magazine, a national correspondent for MLB, and the host of “The Will Leitch Show” on Sports Illustrated TV.

“…During the years I actively ran [Deadspin] — now more than a decade in the past — I was ostensibly in charge of figuring out what was coming next on the sports internet; I was the supposed leader of the blog-barbarians at the gate, all those bulls (and we were all bulls) running roughshod over the Traditional Sports Media…”

Don and Will discuss how Blacktable.com led to Deadspin.com, the Deadspin of today, Will's writing of today, and revisit the infamous and “rather festive” 2008 Costas NOW (HBO) discussion where Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights,” berated Will as being “…sort of like Jimmy Olsen on Percocet," and the sports blogosphere of the early aughts being “dedicated to cruelty … journalistic dishonesty, and … speed.” They’ve both come around since then.

Will lives in Athens, GA, has written four books (with a fifth on the way), and can be found on Twitter @williamfleitch.

• [0:28] Will Leitch newsletter
• [5:28] leitch-on-raising-sons-in-2018.html#_ga=2.8320306.1892451809.1556321064-1825724117.1544304112">How to Raise a Boy: I’m not sure what to think about what my dad tried to teach me. So what should I teach my sons? (New York Magazine, 2018)
• [10:30] Sports on Earth: A Closing Tribute (Sports on Earth, 2018)
• [18:15] Blacktable.com
• [26:37] Laura Wagner
• [28:44] Megan Greenwell
• [29:17] Who Is We? (Deadspin, 2019)
• [29:26] fresh-kind-of-hell-is-barstool-sports.html">What Fresh Hell Is Barstool Sports? (New York Magazine, 2018)
• [30:56] Licensing Company Authentic Brands in Talks to Buy Sports Illustrated for About $110 Million (WSJ, 2019)
• [30:56] New York Magazine Owner Explores Sale (WSJ, 2018)
• [31:42] Grierson & Leitch (Apple Podcasts)
• [46:46] The Secret Life of Pitchers (The Atlantic, 2017)
• [47:10] ankiel.html">A Mound Of Troubles (New York Times Magazine, 2001)
• [48:59] "Internet Media” segment, “Costas NOW” (HBO, April 29, 2008)
• [48:59] Our Conversation With Buzz Bissinger (Deadspin, 2008)
• [48:59] Buzz, Bob, Projectile Spittle and Me (New York Magazine, 2009)
• [49:50] Buzz Bissinger (New York Magazine)
• [53:28] Play Magazine (New York Times)
• [54:30] "God Save the Fan" (HarperCollins)
• [59:13] Twitter Is Driving Everybody Insane (Especially Darren Rovell) (Deadspin, 2011)
• [1:00:40] David Wallace-Wells' “The Uninhabitable Earth” (Tim Duggan Books)
• [1:01:55] Vicki Michaelis
• [1:02:05] Historic Kentucky barns are being stripped by thieves to fuel farmhouse-chic trend (Louisville Courier Journal)