Kickoff For May 16, 2022
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Crime
The lawyer who tried faking his death, and the writer exposing his crime dynasty, wherein we learn about Alex Murdaugh, a powerful and influential lawyer accused of murder and embezzlement, and about Mandy Matney, the reporter who doggedly pursued the Murdaugh story.
The popular electronics chain that scammed America, wherein we learn how the family behind the Crazy Eddie electronics stores pulled off a massive fraud, and how that fraud was discovered.
Conwoman, wherein we learn how Jody Pearson-Harding became one of Australia’s notorious confidence tricksters and how she was eventually captured.
History
The Deadly Cyclone That Changed the Course of the Cold War, wherein we learn how a powerful cyclone had huge political ramifications, not just in the place where it cause massive devastation but also around the world.
A New Story for Stonehenge, wherein we learn how researchers have uncovered more about the origins and history of the famed and fabled English stone circle.
That time when Soviet rocket scientists nearly nuked New York City, wherein we learn how during an attempt to send a probe to Mars in the early 1960s, an ICBM was almost launched at the United States instead.
Arts and Literature
The Editor Who Moves Theory Into the Mainstream, wherein we learn about Ken Wissoker, head of Duke University Press, and how he took DUP from being a typical academic publisher to one whose books (more to the point, the ideas within) have gained a solid foothold outside of academia.
Novelists are afraid of class, wherein Phillip Hensher examines why many fiction writers today find exploring social differences in their work to be taboo.
Nil by page, wherein Andrew Gallix looks at why writers fear the blank page, but also at how a blank page can be a beautiful, wonderful thing.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.