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Editors’ Picks Features Topics Best Of 2021
Longreads
Final Girl, Terrible Place
By Lesley Finn Feature

I was expecting a handy theory. What I found was a way of seeing that would help me decode a script I’d been stuck in for much of my life.

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Longreads Best of 2021

A collection of our favorite stories from the past year
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The Women Who Built Grunge
By Lisa Whittington-Hill Feature

Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects. Thirty years later, it’s time to reassess their legacy.

Queens of Infamy: Isabella of France
By Anne Thériault Feature

Married off at age 12, Isabella put up with her husband’s shenanigans over decades. Eventually, the She-Wolf of France had had enough.

Love Song to Costco
By Yuxi Lin Feature

“In the great halls of Costco, two of our greatest fears are assuaged — that of not having enough, and that of not being enough.”

Latest Picks

Signs of Life
By Raksha Vasudevan  / Hazlitt
Unsettled: The Afghan Refugee Crisis Collides with the American Housing Disaster
By Makena Kelly  / The Verge
How Istanbul Became the Global Capital of the Hair Transplant
By Alex Hawkins  / GQ
Promised Land: How South Africa’s Black Farmers Were Set Up to Fail
By Eve Fairbanks  / The Guardian
Nathan Fielder Is Out of His Mind (and Inside Yours)
By Lila Shapiro  / New York Magazine
Ruffled Feathers: How Feral Peacocks Divided a Small Town
By Lyndsie Bourgon  / The Walrus
Final Girl, Terrible Place
By Lesley Finn  / Longreads
The Women Who Built Grunge
By Lisa Whittington-Hill  / Longreads
Queens of Infamy: Isabella of France
By Anne Thériault  / Longreads
Love Song to Costco
By Yuxi Lin  / Longreads
View more

Latest Posts

How Vladimir Putin Helped ‘Nazify’ Modern Germany
By Longreads Feature

Rainer Sonntag was a far-right vigilante. He was also a Communist spy.

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

This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.

Happy Birthday Tom: A Tom Cruise Reading List
By Chloe Walker Feature

Tom Cruise is about to turn 60 — time for a look back at the life of a master maverick.

Families Like Ours: A Reading List for the Children of Queer Parents
By Melissa Hart Feature

Some of us got to stay with our moms or dads. Others did not.

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

This week, we’re sharing stories from Caroline Kitchener, Sarah Treleaven, Ilana Bean, Dan Kois, and Alan Siegel.

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The Thrill of the Perfect Ending: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist‘s New Issue
By Brendan O'Meara Feature

In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Greg Donahue and Atavist editor Jonah Ogles about their work on “The Fugitive Next Door.”

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

This week, we’re sharing stories from Nicole Carr, Cullen Murphy, Carrington J. Tatum, Matthew Bremner, and Nitasha Tiku.

Stranger Things: A Reading List of Unsolved Mysteries
By Lisa Bubert Feature

Tales of odd phenomena stoke our imagination even as they tease us.

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

This week, we’re sharing stories from Wright Thompson, Mitch Moxley, Patrick Radden Keefe, Joshua Sokol, and Ariane Todes.

Behind the Story: Mailee Osten-Tan on Reporting on Gender Confirmation Surgery in Thailand
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature

Mailee Osten-Tan on learning how to be a better ally to the members of marginalized communities and what she discovered while reporting on trans healthcare issues for Longreads.

View more posts

Popular Posts

Queens of Infamy: Isabella of France
By Anne Thériault Feature

Married off at age 12, Isabella put up with her husband’s shenanigans over decades. Eventually, the She-Wolf of France had had enough.

Stranger Things: A Reading List of Unsolved Mysteries
By Lisa Bubert Feature

Tales of odd phenomena stoke our imagination even as they tease us.

The Women Who Built Grunge
By Lisa Whittington-Hill Feature

Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects. Thirty years later, it’s time to reassess their legacy.

A Carefully Constructed Li(f)e
By Longreads Feature

Tim Brown seemed like a typical Florida retiree: He loved doting on his wife, fishing with friends, and flying his plane. But his life was built on a secret.

Love Song to Costco
By Yuxi Lin Feature

“In the great halls of Costco, two of our greatest fears are assuaged — that of not having enough, and that of not being enough.”

The Case for Letting Malibu Burn
By Longreads Feature

Many of California’s native ecosystems evolved to burn. Modern fire suppression creates fuels that lead to catastrophic fires. So why do people insist on rebuilding in the firebelt?

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