Swamp People
Finding refuge and resilience in America’s most reviled landscapes.
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Uncanny Testimony
As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.
20 Years Later: Little Brother, “The Minstrel Show”
Like minstrelsy, Little Brother’s album shows you one hand, convinces you of one thing, while something else works behind the scenes.
The Eloquent Vindicator in the Electric Room
No one remembers the assassination of Congressman James M. Hinds. What do we risk by making it just another part of American history?
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Kickstart your weekend by getting the week’s best reads, hand-picked and introduced by Longreads editors, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning.
Weekly Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from Nicholas Hune-Brown, Nick Sturm, Samanth Subramanian, Kristin Idaszak, and Sy Safransky.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Alice Hines, Maggie Harrison Dupré, Katie Engelhart, Pooja Bhatia, and Tom Lamont.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we feature stories from Gordy Megroz, Max Blau and Zaydee Sanchez, Brendan I. Koerner, Lora Eli Smith, and Pat Cassels.
Essays and Features
The Worst Air Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
“In the early days of flight, airships were hailed as the future of war. Then disaster struck the USS Akron.”
99 Problems: The Ice Cream Truck’s Surprising History
From crime panics to TikTok, summer’s favorite vehicle has driven a bumpy road.
Beloved Bother
A typo in my great-uncle’s obituary held the key to understanding him.
The Mostly True Story of America’s First Black Private Investigator
He made his name in Chicago investigating racial violence, solving crimes, and exposing corruption. But America’s first Black private detective was hiding secrets of his own.
Cracking the Family Codes
A stash of encrypted diaries raises questions about the secrets we carry, and how they are revealed.
Thank You for Finding Me
As a teenager, I met a stranger who changed the course of my life. Twenty years later, I went looking for him.
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Reading Lists
Map Room: A Radical Reading List on Cartographic Power, Perspective, and Possibility
Seven stories celebrating our fascination with maps.
Science Cheats: A Reading List on Unscrupulous Scientists
Six stories on the shady side of scholarship.
Dimes, Dunks, and Devotion: A Basketball Reading List
Seven essays that go beyond the box score.
Fleeing Family: A Reading List on Estrangement
Seven stories highlighting the perspective of estranged adult children.
Kingdom of Funga: A Mycelial Reading List on a Strange and Surreal World Around Us
Seven stories celebrating the kingdom of funga’s beauty and power.
Suspended Falling: A Reading List on Walking
After seven million years of evolution, walking feels as natural as breathing. But as our environments evolve, so do our ways of walking through them.
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