TLM's Recommendations for May 2025
Who We're reading (and you you might like as well)
In line with our new mantra, I’ve examined the recommendations for May through the lens of two questions:
What does it all mean?
What do I do now?
Each one of the recommended publications answers one of those two questions in some form or way. It will either help you get mental clarity on the situation we’re facing. Or, it will help you get clarity on how to navigate the problems the present situation creates. With that in mind, here’s who we’re reading, and why you should too.
Journal of the Plague Years
In a media ecosystem drowning in clickbait and cowardice, Journal of the Plague Years offers something rare: insurgent intelligence with literary bite. Edited by Susan Zakin—an award-winning journalist whose bylines include GQ, Vogue, Salon, and The New York Times—this Substack publication feels like dispatches from the resistance, written with the clarity of hindsight and the urgency of now.
Zakin has built a collective of writers who don’t flinch. Their tone is unapologetically sharp, often darkly funny, and steeped in history, art, and power politics. Pieces span the personal and the political—one week, a meditation on grief or exile, the next, a deep dive into authoritarian drift or ecological collapse. The unifying thread? A kind of war-room clarity about what time it is.
For readers of The Long Memo looking to track the contours of collapse while holding onto what’s worth saving, this is a companion worth keeping close.
Explore it here: journaloftheplagueyears.substack.com
Persuasion
At a time when ideological purity tests are replacing intellectual curiosity, Persuasion stands as a necessary counterforce. Founded by political scientist Yascha Mounk, this publication brings together writers, academics, and public thinkers who believe in the radical idea that disagreement isn’t dangerous—and that defending liberal democracy still matters.
The essays span culture, politics, science, and philosophy, with contributors from across the ideological spectrum—left, liberal, libertarian, even disillusioned conservatives. What unites them isn’t dogma, but principle: a commitment to reasoned debate, open inquiry, and the kind of civic pluralism most institutions have quietly abandoned.
(Fun fact: The Long Memo has published work there, and Persuasion has invited more. So yes, I’m biased. But I’m also right.)
Whether unpacking illiberal tendencies on both the right and the left, revisiting Enlightenment ideals in modern terms, or spotlighting global threats to democracy that U.S. media ignores, Persuasion delivers signal, not noise.
For readers trying to stay grounded amid ideological whiplash—and who want more than clickbait tribalism—Persuasion offers clarity without condescension, and complexity without cowardice.
Explore it here: persuasion.community
Further
Most content aimed at midlife either patronizes or panders. Further doesn’t do either. Created by Brian Clark—yes, the guy behind Copyblogger—this newsletter is a smart, focused dispatch for Gen Xers rethinking what comes next.
Clark isn’t selling hustle culture or retirement fantasy. He’s building a playbook for “unretirement”—an intentional, entrepreneurial, and health-conscious life that rejects the idea that your best years are behind you. Further blends business sense with wellness insight and personal development in a way that’s both practical and aspirational.
If you’re in that midlife zone—still ambitious, still curious, but no longer buying the old narratives—Further offers the mindset shift and tactical clarity to chart your own path.
Explore it here: news.further.net
How to Survive the Broligarchy
Carole Cadwalladr doesn’t just report the news—she drags it, kicking and screaming, into the spotlight. Best known for exposing the Cambridge Analytica scandal, she now writes with blistering clarity about the unholy alliance of tech barons, political strongmen, and the media systems that enable them.
Her Substack, How to Survive the Broligarchy, isn’t just a newsletter—it’s a field guide to fighting back. Through sharp investigations and personal narrative, Cadwalladr unpacks the invisible architecture of modern power: how disinformation moves, how institutions fold, and how the “broligarchy”—her term for the ruling tech-bro class—manipulates both.
But this isn’t despair porn. It’s battle-tested journalism wrapped in righteous indignation. For readers who want to understand what’s happening and how to push back, Broligarchy is one hell of a primer. I have been enjoying the hell out of this Substack. Truly, it’s a gem.
Explore it here: broligarchy.substack.com
The Overshoot
If you’ve ever tried to decode the global economy only to be met with jargon, ideology, or hand-waving, The Overshoot is the antidote. Matthew C. Klein cuts through the noise with rigorous but accessible analysis, pulling apart trade data, monetary policy, and fiscal dynamics to show how the system really works.
This isn’t doomscroll fodder or market hype. It’s steady, well-calibrated insight for people who want to understand capital flows, policy outcomes, and how economic decisions ripple through institutions and individuals. His pieces regularly reframe conventional narratives, and often show just how wrong the mainstream got it.
For readers trying to make smart moves in an unstable system, The Overshoot is a compass worth following. And yes, it’s expensive, clarity and craft usually is. That said, as a fellow economist and finance analyst, the guy knows his stuff. It’s worth 300 bucks a year if this is your thing.
Explore it here: theovershoot.co
Why This Matters & How You Can Help
These five writers are worth your time. They’re not always the most prominent names, but they’re some of the most interesting voices on Substack. Every one of them is high signal/low noise.
If you enjoy The Long Memo, recommending it helps more people find it—and, as a perk, writers who recommend me can earn complimentary paid memberships.
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Enjoy stacking. See you next month with five more.
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