The Top MoJo Longreads of 2015

From disciplining kids to the true cost of gun violence in America.

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In 2015, MoJo readers proved yet again that great long-form reporting belongs online. These richly detailed reports are sparking discussions and inspiring readers to share stories in greater numbers than ever before. Many of our most popular articles published over the past year were heavily researched investigations and deeply reported narratives that originally appeared in the magazine. Here, for your holiday enjoyment, is a selection of our best-loved longreads from the past year. (And once you’re done reading through them, click here for last year’s list, here for our 2013 list, and here for our 2012 list). 

What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?
Negative consequences just make bad behavior worse. But a new approach really works.
By Katherine Reynolds Lewis

 

The True Cost of Gun Violence in America
The data the NRA doesn’t want you to see.
By Mark Follman, Julia Lurie, Jaeah Lee, and James West

 

The War on Women Is Over—and Women Lost
While you weren’t watching, conservatives fundamentally rewrote abortion laws.
By Molly Redden

 

The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-Effective Way to End Homelessness
Why aren’t more cities using it?
By Scott Carrier

 

The Scary New Science That Shows Milk Is Bad For You
Why does the government still push three servings a day?
By Josh Harkinson

 

How the Government Put Tens of Thousands of People at Risk of a Deadly Disease
If it killed politicians instead of prisoners, this illness would be public enemy No. 1.
By David Ferry

 

Here’s How Bernie Sanders May Be Changing Politics for Good
Inside the wild-haired socialist’s unlikely rise.
By Tim Murphy

 

The Terrifying Truth About Air Pollution and Dementia
Scientists now suspect that a major cause of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s could be in the air.
By Aaron Reuben

 

America’s Most Notorious Coal Baron Is On Trial. Here’s the Epic Tale of His Rise and Fall.
The biggest mine disaster in 40 years occurred on Don Blankenship’s watch at Massey Energy.
By Tim Murphy

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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