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Editors’ Picks Features Topics Best Of 2020
Longreads
Shelved: Yoko Ono
By Tom Maxwell Feature

On Yoko Ono’s 1974 album “A Story,” and stepping out from behind the ever-present shadow of John Lennon.

Friends: We Need Your Help
to Fund More Stories

Longreads Best of 2020

A collection of our favorite stories from the past year
Read Our Favorites
I Will Always Love You: A Dolly Parton Reading List
By Alison Fishburn Reading List

Happy birthday, Dolly Parton! Here are seven longreads about the American singer-songwriter.

Ten Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2021
By Longreads Feature

Pravesh Bhardwaj read and and shared 304 short stories on the #longreads Twitter hashtag in 2020. Here are his favorites.

An Atlas of the Cosmos
By Shannon Stirone Feature

We’ve mapped Mars, the Moon, the solar system, even our own galaxy. Which means there is only one thing left to understand in this symbolic way and that is the entirety of the cosmos.

Latest Picks

The Epic Hunt for One of the World’s Most Wanted Men
By Joshua Hammer  / GQ
Why iPhone is today’s Kodak Brownie Camera
By Om Malik  / OM
Broken Pelvises, Collapsed Lungs, and Decades of Winning: Barrel Racing’s Martha Josey Has Seen It All
By Laura Beil  / Texas Monthly
Seeding the Ocean: Inside a Michelin-Starred Chef’s Revolutionary Quest to Harvest Rice From the Sea
By Matt Goulding  / Time Magazine
Regarding Henry: The 25th Anniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715th Homer
By Lee Walburn  / Atlanta Magazine
The Birdman of the Tower of London and the Missing Ravens
By Harriet Marsden  / The Independent
The Doctor vs. #MeToo
By Caitlin L. Chandler  / Columbia Journalism Review
Welcome to Zollywood
By Hunter Harris  / GQ
The Radio Station and the Fisherfolk
By Kamala Thiagarajan  / Hakai Magazine
Screen Memories
By Kelly Pendergrast  / Real Life Mag
View more

Latest Posts

Closure for a Sister Disappeared
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“The crypt was a memorial for victims of the regime; she would lie with her peers, after all.”

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Caitlin L. Chandler, Kelan Lyons, Daniel Loedel, John Colapinto, and Shay Castle.

The Household Covid Budget
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“She and her five housemates needed to find a way to live safely together. So they decided to adhere to a collective risk model of their own design.”

In Georgia, Citrus is Just Peachy
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“’You’re going to see Georgia citrus become the next Vidalia onion,’ Franklin says. ‘Soon they’ll be in every grocery store around.’”

Leap of Faith
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“The men call up to Sofiane, telling him that he and his brother have to jump. Guelord shouts that the younger boy needs to go first. Sofiane should throw him down.”

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Rush Drummer Neil Peart: Master Student
By Krista Stevens Highlight

Neil Peart “was brilliant enough to skip two grades, starting high school at 12. He began drum lessons, practicing for a full year without an actual kit.”

‘We Told You So’: Revisiting the Bleak, Pandemic-Filled World of 12 Monkeys, 25 Years Later
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

“Gilliam does believe that the end of society may soon be upon us. The question for him is: What shape will the new one take?”

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Timothy Snyder, Austin Carr, James Murdock, Myriam Lahouari, and Brian Hiatt.

The Unseen in a Pandemic without Technology
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“It’s been more than a year that we haven’t been able to see him…We’re getting old. We don’t know how much time we have left.

‘Everyone Benefits from a Frozen Arctic’
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“The world should not, cannot, go back to business as usual without a clearer understanding and consciousness of how we live.”

View more posts

Popular Posts

Ten Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2021
By Longreads Feature

Pravesh Bhardwaj read and and shared 304 short stories on the #longreads Twitter hashtag in 2020. Here are his favorites.

Shelved: Yoko Ono
By Tom Maxwell Feature

On Yoko Ono’s 1974 album “A Story,” and stepping out from behind the ever-present shadow of John Lennon.

Longreads Best of 2020: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
By Krista Stevens Feature

Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.

Out There: On Not Finishing
By Devin Feature

What happens if the stories we tell ourselves about our lives leave us lonely, wrestling with meaning?

The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty
By Longreads Feature

More than fifty years ago, one man tried to hold the Coors brewery CEO for ransom. Things went very badly.

‘We Told You So’: Revisiting the Bleak, Pandemic-Filled World of 12 Monkeys, 25 Years Later
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

“Gilliam does believe that the end of society may soon be upon us. The question for him is: What shape will the new one take?”

Books

The Powerful Decide
By Longreads Feature

What makes good or bad design happen anywhere depends on who has the most power.

‘The Sea and Sky Decide What They Will Allow’
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“I’m working on a book about Arctic explorers, and that means swimming in a sea of sorrow.”

The Grieving Landscape
By Longreads Feature

Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.

This Week in Books: Farewell Longreads! I’m Taking This Rodeo to Substack.
By Dana Snitzky Commentary

To read my “This Week in Books” newsletter in the future, follow me on substack.

Palliative Brownies
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“I grew up in the grip of the epidemic, maturing as people I adored as surrogate aunties and uncles fell ill and vanished from our lives.”

View all

Current Events

What Happened to Cruise Ship Workers Once the Passengers Were Gone?
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, cruise companies “went to great lengths to repatriate vacationers.” But for crew members, it was a different story.

Neighborhood Watch: The Strange Aftermath of a ‘Karen’ Encounter
By Seyward Darby Highlight

In a progressive New Jersey community, racial solidarity is complicated.

Longreads Best of 2020: Writing on COVID-19
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature

Our top story picks in COVID-19 reporting this year.

The Alarmist: Is One of the Pandemic’s Loudest Scientific Voices Helping or Hurting Public Health?
By Seyward Darby Highlight

Meet Eric Feigl-Ding, the town crier of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trapped in Limbo Down Under
By Seyward Darby Highlight

In Australia, some 30,000 people live in a state of legal uncertainty crafted by politicians.

View all

Essays & Criticism

‘Everyone Benefits from a Frozen Arctic’
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“The world should not, cannot, go back to business as usual without a clearer understanding and consciousness of how we live.”

‘Almost Home’: On Place, Legacy, Growing Up in Atlanta, and Symbols of White Supremacy
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

An essay on growing up in the South, legacy, and a place rooted in white supremacy.

The Rehab of Big Sky Country
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“Daily treks in silence are an effective way to get anyone to reflect on their lives and consider what’s really important.”

The Mormon Mommy Bloggers of Instagram
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

Alexandra Tanner spent this weird year following Mormon mommy bloggers on Instagram.

Longreads Best of 2020: Essays
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature

A small sampling of standout essays published this year.

View all
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