Longreads features

Charnel Heart

A bone chapel promised to teach me about mortality. It took a life-threatening illness for me to learn.

Beyond the Glass

Among a collection’s many skulls, a grieving son learns how to live in a world that keeps going.

Where the Forest Went

Hugh Maxwell’s walk transformed 2.6 million acres of wilderness into a grid for sale. A writer followed his trail to survey what remains.

A Place Among the Fiddlers

In a southwest Virginia fairground, thousands of musicians gather every August to keep a centuries-old tradition from flickering out.

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Recent editors’ picks

You Finally Got a Wikipedia Page. Then It Vanished.

Duncan Fyfe | Wired | October 26, 2026 | 3,530 words

“Every day, Wikipedia biographies of living people are flagged for deletion because the subjects are not ‘notable’ enough. How do these poor souls take the news?”

Benchma(r)king

James Bridle | Emergence Magazine | October 14, 2026 | 4,109 words

“James Bridle experiments with combining their practical carpentry skills and the abundant theoretical knowledge of AI to build a chair.”

Vocal Accords

Lisa Dorst | Harper’s | October 23, 2026 | 7,830 words

“Eurovision faces the music.”

The Dominican Baseball Factory

Gus Garcia-Roberts | ProPublica | September 10, 2026 | 9,378 words

“Teams make handshake deals with players as young as 11 while moneylenders prey on their families. The industry is corrupt, but Major League Baseball and the players union have done…

Apocalypse Now and Then

Arundhati Roy | Equator | October 15, 2026 | 4,995 words

“Artificial intelligence is capitalism’s final destination.”

Quest for the Slappy Man-Hug

Lane Michael Stanley | The Offing | October 9, 2026 | 4,404 words

“I’ve been passing as male for six years, and I still have no idea how to do the Slappy Man-Hug.”

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Weekly Top 5 (for members only)

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Highlighting stories by Melanie Challenger, Eve Livingston, M.R. O’Connor, Gordon Peake, and Blair Braverman.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Highlighting stories from Dushko Petrovich Córdova, Josh Dzieza, Beryl Gilothwest, Stephanie Uchino-Beach, and Zack Haumptman.

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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.

Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.

The Longreads questionnaire

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Excerpts from The Atavist Magazine, our sister publication

The Unforeseen Something

When a little girl in Iowa was diagnosed with a rare incurable disease, her parents and their community came together to help her. They wound up making medical history.

The Thief Who Wanted to Save the World

An ex-cop pulled off the largest armed robbery in Austria’s history, with his friend’s mistress as his accomplice. But he wasn’t trying to get rich. He wanted to be a real-life Robin Hood.

Secrets of the Atomic City

For decades, workers at a nuclear facility in Kentucky were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Management assured them nothing was wrong. Then four friends risked everything to reveal the truth.

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Longreads reading lists

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