“The only impartial witness was the sun.”
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week’s top stories by Elizabeth Whitman, David Grann, Jack Stilgoe, Gloria Liu, and Tony Rehagen.
Plotting Out Structure and Writing Out Heroes: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist’s New Issue
In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Katia Savchuk and Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about their work on “A Crime Beyond Belief.”
How to Save True Crime: A Reading List of Wrongful Conviction Stories
Stories about wrongful convictions open our eyes to systemic injustices in the U.S. court system. Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, compiles his recommended longreads within the genre.
His Life’s Set Prize: The Story of Polar Explorer Henry Worsley
Sometimes, knowing when to go home is the most important decision you can make on a polar expedition.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Mark Arax, David Grann, Stephanie Nolen, Eleanor Cummins, and David Marchese.
The White Darkness
David Grann tells the story of Henry Worsley, a British military man and “apostle” of polar adventurer Ernest Shackleton. Worsley earned fame by retracing Shackleton’s failed expedition to reach the South Pole. He, along with two teammates reached their destination on January 9th, 2009. A case study in the art of story pacing, this piece […]
Reimagining Harper Lee’s Lost True Crime Novel: An Interview with Casey Cep
“Somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that I was writing the book she never would.”
The Masterful Storyteller: A David Grann Reading List
With ‘The Lost City of Z’ now in theaters, we revisit a few favorites from the ‘New Yorker’ writer’s tales of obsession.
Best of 2012
In addition to our own list of top picks, we asked a number of writers and editors to share their favorite Longreads from 2012.

