The Lever - Here Are Your Holiday Week Reads

Sometimes, you need a break from the stress of the news cycle — to take stock, recalibrate, and refocus on the challenges that lie ahead. To help you do so, here’s a roundup of our best recent longform writing. 

These deeply reported, carefully crafted features require weeks or months of effort, and result in the sort of powerful narratives that hardly any outlets still produce. Our longreads, produced by The Lever’s team of senior reporters, are focused on the human impacts of corporate malfeasance, and are a key part of our ambitious expansion efforts.

Sit back and enjoy these special pieces of journalism:

Climate Change Is Coming For Your Insurance

It’s costly to rebuild your home after a natural disaster — and it’s about to get even more expensive. As the climate crisis wreaks havoc across the country, communities are becoming uninsurable and regulators are letting insurers off the hook. Lois Parshley takes a hard look at Louisiana, where the insurance market is in shambles, officials are exploiting the crisis to push for further deregulation, and residents are living with the knowledge that they’ve lost their safety net. 

The Homeowners’ Rebellion

Mobile home communities are the largest category of affordable housing across the country — but in recent years, Wall Street has started to cash in, buying up the properties and charging tenants exorbitant rents. A new homeowner movement could buck that trend, helping millions of people stay in their homes. 

Meet The New Kingpin

Private equity has come for bowling, threatening your neighborhood alley — but the problem is much bigger than a few strikes. Wall Street is jacking up prices, slashing upkeep, triggering discrimination lawsuits, and inspiring warnings of a potential major stock crash. For amateurs and professionals alike, the country’s largest participation sport will never be the same.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Disaster

As climate change increases the likelihood of deadly landslides, cities like Juneau, Alaska, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’s a telling example of how communities across the country are reckoning with the terrible dilemma of whether to acknowledge climate threats that exceed their capacity — or ignore the evidence. 

The Unknown Toll Of The AI Takeover

Artificial intelligence systems are guzzling water in deserts, burning fossil fuels, and jacking up electricity rates for everyone else. So why isn’t anyone tracking the damage?