11 of Our Best Weekend Reads

Welcome to the Weekend. It’s the first one in December. You read that right, December. If it’s cold where you are, maybe light a fire (if you have a fire place) or snuggle up in a cozy chair. Put extra marshmallows in your hot chocolate and make time for some great journalism.

Louisiana school made headlines for sending black kids to elite colleges. Here’s the reality.

T.M. Landry, a school in small-town Louisiana, has garnered national attention for vaulting its underprivileged black students to elite colleges. But the school cut corners and doctored college applications. Washington

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How Les Moonves tried to silence an accuser

A trove of text messages details a plan by Mr. Moonves and a faded Hollywood manager to bury a sexual assault allegation. Instead, the scheme helped sink the CBS chief, and may cost him $120 million. Business

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John Chau Aced Missionary Boot Camp. Reality Proved a Harsher Test.

Before being killed on a remote island in the Andaman Sea, Mr. Chau attended a missionary training camp in Kansas. International

[Read also: “‘I’ve Thought a Lot About Whether I Did Good or Evil’: Missionaries on the Death of John Allen Chau”]

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A business with no end

Where does this strange empire start or stop? Style

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The rapid rise and sudden fall of 6ix9ine

Daniel Hernandez’s arrest was the most serious in a string of legal problems for the 22-year-old rapper and Instagram star. New York

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The 10 best books of 2018¶

The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year. Books

[Also read: “Black Male Writers of Our Time”]

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What the movies taught me about being a woman

In the wake of Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, our critic, Manohla Dargis, re-examines what she learned — and had to unlearn — from the big screen. Arts & Leisure

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A farmer’s tough year on a trade war’s Kansas front

From planning to harvest, the grain belt’s rhythms and prospects have been disrupted by the government’s tariff battle with China. Business

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Racing across Antarctica, one freezing day at a time

Louis Rudd and Colin O’Brady are in the middle of a unique race across the coldest continent, and their daily tasks range from the mundane to the death defying.

[Read also: “No One Has Ever Crossed Antarctica Unsupported. Two Men Are Trying Right Now” and “7 Takeaways From the Solo and Unsupported Journey”]

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They couldn’t find beauty tutorials for dark skin. So they made their own.

The beauty industry sees women with darker skin as an afterthought, but some YouTube and Instagram stars are aiming to change that. Express

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In Yemen, lavish meals for few, starvation for many and a dilemma for reporters

In embattled Yemen, the contrasts are stark as desperate beggars congregate outside markets filled with goods for anyone who can afford them. Should a journalist put down his notebook and help? International

[Also read: “What Lingers After Decades of Reporting on the Cambodian Genocide”]

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