Sixty years ago Bob Dylan changed music forever
Liz Thomson looks at the cultural legacy of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – and how it intersects with the artist’s own contradictory image
Tortoise Quarterly
A short book of long reads
The best thing about slow news is that it doesn’t have a shelf life. Released four times a year, the Tortoise Quarterly is where we publish our long reads and essays. It’s part of our mission to build a journalism that lasts.
You can order any past edition in glorious, old-fashioned print below.
Latest edition
Echoes
Tortoise Quarterly | Edition 12
Non-member price: £15 + postage
Member price: £12 + postage
In Tortoise’s twelfth short book of long reads, our writers look to the history of inflation, Barbie and an iconic London bus almost consigned to history last year. Meanwhile Basia Cummings investigates the tragic death of a young journalist in South Sudan and Alexi Mostrous investigates one of the most serious British conspiracy theories of all time.
ISBN 978-1-913323-16-5
Published June 2023
Soft cover
156 pages, full colour
Echoes
Tortoise Quarterly | Edition 13
Non-member price: £15 + postage
Member price: £12 + postage
From Xavier Greenwood’s account of converting to Judaism to Rosie Blunt’s story about a lost religious masterpiece, many of the pieces in Tortoise’s thirteenth book of long reads follow a recurring theme: faith.
Also in the latest edition: Will Brown on the Ukrainians rooting for a Russian win, Lucy Webster on how disabled women are being excluded from essential services and Liz Moseley recalls her adventures dating online in the 2000s.
ISBN 978-1-913323-17-2
Published September 2023
Soft cover
166 pages, full colour
Past editions
Read online
anniversary 2023 | quarterly Xi
The greatest fashion invention ever is 150 years old
Denim enthusiast Liz Moseley celebrates a century and a half of the staple fabric
A hundred years after its inception, weather forecasting is more important than ever
Jeevan Vasagar examines how meteorology is faring in the age of climate change and culture wars
comics | quarterly X
The reckless truth of Dave Chappelle
Matthew d’Ancona on why the comedian deserves to be labelled the Greatest Of All Time
My hunt for the person behind QAnon
Nicky Woolf writes about his year-long investigation into the conspiracy theory that’s become a cult – and how he identified the person he believes is behind it
The Curly Hill blues
Liz Moseley’s parents were true Thatcherites and hard-working with it. But shopkeeping and social climbing didn’t mix
News | Quarterly iX
Sex, lies and magazines
Liz Moseley had a long and passionate affair with magazines. There was love, sex, fashion, celebs – but then the gloss started to fade…
The media are failing disabled people
Lucy Webster explains why – and how they can do better
The news isn’t getting better
In the age of smartphones and social media, a quick scroll can give the impression that things are worse than ever before. But are they really?
festival | Quarterly viii
Isles of wonder?
The London Olympics seemed to promise a new beginning for Britain. Ten years on, Paul Hayward wonders what happened
How the Lebedevs partied their way to power
The Lebedevs’ ascent reveals how easy it was for Britain to be bought
A short history of fidgeting
Fidget toys are booming. Hattie Garlick wonders why
anniversary | Quarterly vii
Watergate now
A minor burglary started the most famous political scandal of modern times. It still resonates
An empire strikes back
During the Falklands War, soldiers and photographers on both sides recorded their experiences on film. This is the conflict through their eyes
Last Tango In Paris in the age of #MeToo
Fifty years on, Kate Muir asks whether the film is a masterpiece or just monstrous
giants | Quarterly vi
Woman overboard
John Darwin famously took a canoe out to sea to fake his own death so that his life insurance could save him from bankruptcy. But his wife Anne took most of the blame. Hattie Garlick wonders why
Hunting the blues
Human action, or inaction, is helping blue whales recover. Our treatment of our biggest neighbour is hugely symbolic
A tale of two piers
Brighton’s Palace Pier, built in 1899, is still standing proud but the once regal West Pier is a different story, writes Paul Caruana Galizia