Lord of the Extremists

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Hi 👋 

Another Monday, another longform reading list! ✨

We’re doing another series again this week. And you might already know this one, because it became so big at the time it released that it got turned into a seven-part podcast. That, in turn, became its own media phenomenon.

I’m talking about Bundyville, Leah Sottile’s deep and illuminating dive into the far-right and extremist family who are based in Nevada but whose influence has reached far beyond. In fact, Sottile argues in her piece that the Bundys were in a way harbingers of Donald Trump’s first crusade to the White House. And I’m arguing right now that America never really learned the lessons from that, or from Bundyville, which is why Trump is back in office.

Unlike most people, I didn’t come across the Bundyville series from its podcast version (which is surprising, even to me, because for years I was so obsessed with these types of investigative podcasts). I haven’t even listened to the podcast yet, so I can’t really tell you if it’s good or not.

What I can say is that this longform series is incredible. There’s a ton of work here that makes itself known in the sometimes extremely granular details, the sprawling (but never unnecessary) backstories, and the smartly structured dialogues.

As you can probably tell, the subject matter here is impossibly complex. I’ve seen critique of this saying that Sotille paid way too much focus on the Bundys, and didn’t give enough space for other stakeholders in this entire saga. Which I think is valid. But I think that’s something for you to decide yourself.

What I will say is that I appreciate how the writer held her own judgement until deep into the series. I’m a strong proponent of that: Journalists should keep their opinions out of the page until they get to a point that they’ve proven to the reader—through reportage, fact-checking, etc—that they deserve to be given space to proselytize. Sotille does that to perfection here.

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

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My Dad Was a Spy, Maybe | Gizmodo, Free

Hmm. Conflicted about this one. One one hand, it’s a pretty moving essay about being the daughter of someone who might be, in a complicated way, geopolitically important.

On the other, I find it frustrating. Because here is this woman who grew up choosing to cling to some privileged notion that she was safe and anonymous, that her government respected her privacy—despite the actual lived experiences of her parents. And she chose to believe one government’s propaganda over another’s—again, despite actual lived experiences of her own father. (And let’s face it. She was a child, but at some point there was a willingness to discard as crazy what her parents were telling her.)

And I understand being skeptical, but that’s now how she paints her own reactions. It seemed more a wholesale dismissal. And in that context, this piece reads like a really well-written whine about something that’s at least partly self-inflicted.

A Son Is Rescued at Sea. But What Happened to His Mother? | WIRED, $

On many level, this is a classic True Crime story done really well. And on just that front, this piece can very much stand on its own.

But that doesn’t make a WIRED story, which often has a science-y or tech-y spin to it. And for a long stretch there, I really thought that the crime angle was all there is to this piece. Then the naval science hit, and oh my goodness I was floored. I wouldn’t consider myself a ship enthusiast, and I’m deathly afraid of the ocean, but the way the writer laid out his technical concepts here really captured me. Top-notch work.

A Septic Tank in This Tiny Arizona Town Could Crack a 2006 Cold Case | Phoenix New Times, Free

A cookie-cutter cold-case crime story, but I mean that in the best possible way. In fact, now that I think about it, aside from that septic tank spin (which admittedly ended up not having that big of a role in the piece), there’s really not much that sets this story apart from others like it. But I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe it’s the way it was told? Maybe it’s how the different tiny elements and details of it came together?

In any case: That title is great. I saw this on Reddit some years back and before I knew it I had clicked it open and saved it to my reading app. That’s how you know a headline is effective.

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The Real Butlers of the .001 Percent | GQ, $

Dragged my feet with this story. Had this on my TBR pile for what must have been months, but just kept putting it off for unknown reasons. I guess I just assumed it would have been boring?

But BOY was I wrong. Now granted, this article isn’t gripping in the way True Crime stories are, but it does inspire some level of unabated fascination. There’s just something so arresting about the way the hyper-wealthy live, and apparently that extends to the (apparently well-compensated) people who cater to their whims. Really fun, eye-opening piece.

Huge plus for the experiential journalism here. The writer went to butler school himself to see first-hand what it takes to serve the uppermost crust of society.

The Toppling of Saddam’s Statue: How The US Military Made a Myth | The Guardian, Free

Another oldie but goodie from The Guardian. This time, we’re looking at how much of warfare, at least in how it plays out in the modern mind, is a lying game. This story might be extra resonant to people who are of my generation and older. I vividly remember clips of this particular statue being taken down played ad infinitum on our old-school TV set. Even in my tiny, corruption-ridden Third World country, every news station carried this statue story.

Turns out it was a farce. And, as history now teaches us, this symbolic victory in the Middle East (which at the time was touted as a win for the free, liberal world, for democracy, for the vaunted rules-based order) is just that—a symbol. Because in fact, the war in the Middle East was an abject failure of humanity.

“Just Let Me Die” | ProPublica, Free

Yet another one of those heartbreaking and absolutely enraging healthcare stories, with an unsurprising focus on the U.S. Take this as your content warning: This one is pretty much triggering all through out.

But genuinely, props to ProPublica. They keep on running stories on healthcare and biopharma, which I know from experience aren’t the sexiest beats. They don’t generate much clicks or ad revenue, and instead opens you up to lawsuits from some pretty powerful and deep-pocketed adversaries. And yet the publication somehow still finds a way to run engaging and, as in the case of this story, extremely emotionally powerful stories.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. Please vote below to let me know how you linked this week’s picks. Alternatively, feel free to email me your feedback. Always love to hear from readers!

ALSO: I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those. Send me a message and let’s see what we can do 😊

Until next Monday, and happy reading! 👋