Longreads features

Defining Color

“A deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral, bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet william.”

Into the Darkness

Germanyโ€™s Black Forest faces a future of transformation. So do the people who have lived there for centuries.

My Unlikely Existence

Is AI helping prospective parents game the fertility lottery? Should it?

An Internet of Checkpoints

A mysterious YouTube video gave thousands of people a place to breathe. Then it vanished.

35 and 1

A brother lost, a son born, and the strange arithmetic of love.

Vigilantes at Dawn

A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Recent editors’ picks

โ€˜The Worst Neighbor Everโ€™

Alexander Sammon | Slate | March 25, 2026 | 8,079 words

“He moved to the block promising a new bookstore. He brought a whole lot more than that. Now no one is quite sure how to describe what happened outside Quirkyโ€ฆ

How American Camouflage Conquered the World

Avery Trufelman | Wired | March 25, 2026 | 1,797 words

“The world-famous MultiCam pattern was designed for the military by two Brooklyn hipsters. Now everyoneโ€”from babies to ICE agentsโ€”is suited up for battle.”

Field Notes from a Body

N.C. Happe | The Kenyon Review | March 18, 2025 | 5,782 words

“As I watched I had felt a nameless churn in my gut, some tremor of feeling I couldnโ€™t describe.”

The Body I Couldn’t Abstract

Megan O’Grady | The Yale Review | March 16, 2026 | 4,992 words

“Motherhood reshaped how I see shame, art, and the female body.”

The Last Great Weed Smuggler

Jack Crosbie | Rolling Stone | March 17, 2026 | 5,700 words

“Before the cartels took over, Harvey Prager built a life on millions of dollars of drug money. One prosecutor called Prager ‘the last of the great amateurs.’ This is hisโ€ฆ

Lay It Down

Luke Ottenhof | Hazlitt | March 11, 2026 | 2,500 words

“People love John Samson Fellowsโ€™s music. He doesnโ€™t want to make it anymore.”

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Weekly Top 5

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

an image of a webpage that says "Find Your Next Great Read"

Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.

Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.

The Longreads questionnaire

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Excerpts from The Atavist Magazine, our sister publication

The Dark and Stormy Tale of a ShantyTok Band

When a scraggly band of folk musicians arrived to tour the UK, residents of a small Welsh town were enamoredโ€”until they learned that the bandโ€™s leader ruled with an iron fist.

Anatomy of Absolute Power

The people of Wilcox County, Alabama, remember a longtime sheriff as a god or a monsterโ€”it just depends on who you ask.

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Longreads reading lists

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Join Longreads today to access our Top 5 archive

Become a paid member to browse our weekly recommendations, along with other benefits.

Gift this article