Donate Today

Weekend Reads: June 8, 2018

Mermaids, Pickles, and Trade Wars

Want weekend reads delivered to your inbox every Friday afternoon? Click here to sign up.

The State You’re In: Florida’s Mermaid Industry Doesn’t Pay Scale

Craig Pittman | Tampa Bay Times

Florida is undergoing a mermaid revolution. Read about the new industry Floridians are embracing.

China Increasingly Challenges American Dominance of Science

Ben Guarino, Emily Rauhala, and William Wan | The Washington Post

China seeks to surpass the United States in attracting the best and brightest scientific researchers, notes Guarino, Rauhala, and Wan in The Washington Post.

The DIY Movement Is Bringing RadioShack Back from the Dead

Kaleigh Rogers | Vice Motherboard

Rogers discusses how a growing share of individuals are learning how to fix their own devices and how this could actually bring RadioShack franchises back to business.

The High Price of Stale Grievances

Coleman Hughes | The Quillette

What do music, freedom, morality, and history all have in common? Hughes explores in his piece for The Quillette.

The Long History of Child-Snatching

Tera W. Hunter | The New York Times

The act of separating migrant mothers from their children holds a long and brutal history in the United States.

Tales from the Far-Flung Faroes

Christian Petersen | BBC

Tucked away between the freezing shores of Iceland and Norway is a small archipelago with a little over 50,000 residents gets connected to the rest of the world through the internet.

Want to Read Michael Lewis’s Next Work? You’ll Be Able to Listen to It First

Alexandra Alter | The New York Times

Esteemed author Michael Lewis takes a historical leap, becoming the first magazine writer to publish a feature only as an audiobook.

Ethiopia Opens Door to the World With Unprecedented Privatization Plan

 Matina Stevis-Gridneff | The Wall Street Journal

As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Ethiopia seeks to liberalize some of its assets once under near-total state control.

Moving Animals to Safe Havens Can Unexpectedly Doom Them

Ed Yong | The Atlantic

Is Australia accidentally hurting native species by moving them from their native environments? Yong explores this week in The Atlantic.

"Somebody Had to Push": One Couple's Fight to Change How Texas Defines a Pickle

Shannon Najmabadi | The Texas Tribune

Read about how the McHaneys filed a lawsuit to overcome state regulations that caused them quite the pickle.

James Madison Would Like a Few Words on Trade Wars

Noah Feldman | Bloomberg

Explore the history of trade wars in the US, dating back to the nation’s founding.