Category: Nonfiction

Susie Goodall wanted to circumnavigate the globe in her sailboat without stopping. She didn’t bargain for what everyone else wanted.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Eric Borsuk, Aaron Gell, Laurie Penny, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Will Rees.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Seth Harp, Alanna Mitchell, Cezary Podkul, Alex Vuocolo, and Loren Grush.

In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Seyward Darby about “Fault Lines,” her Atavist writing debut.

Reality TV: Guilty pleasure or public service?

This week, our editors recommend stories by Michael Wilson, Joseph Bien-Kahn, Jason Anthony, AC Shelton, and Tom Breihan.

We recommend these incisive essays on Abbott Elementary, The White Lotus, and The Dropout in Scalawag’s series on pop culture and justice.

A look at the remarkable life and complicated legacy of Queen Elizabeth II.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Carla Ciccone, Lex Pryor, Bhavya Dore, Michelle Cyca, and Casey Lyons.

Humans are social creatures, and loneliness can be debilitating — yet, many have discovered solace in the solitary life.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Yessenia Funes, Carl Elliott, Courtney Shea, Jillian Steinhauer, and Ed Simon.

A pioneering humanities program shaped a generation of students and brought acclaim to a public high school in Los Angeles. But beneath the excellence lurked a culture of abuse.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Ryan Devereaux, Tess McNulty, Alyssa Harad, Leland Cecco, and Caitlin Giddings

Stories about spiritual teachers who lose their way.

Our lives are so much more than you could possibly imagine.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Bushra Seddique, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Laura Mauldin, Kathryn Miles, and Lucas Mann.

This week, our editors recommend stories by Caitlin Dickerson, Samira Shackle, Mitchell S. Jackson, Roberto José Andrade Franco, and Ian Dille.

Andres Beckett dreamed of flying over the crest, down into the long dark track of the Suicide Race.

This week, our editors recommend longreads by Janelle Nanos, Paloma Pacheo, Radley Balko, Claire McNear, and Tad Friend.

This week, our editors recommend longreads by Kelsey Vlamis, Brian Feldman, Skip Hollandsworth, Tessa Somberg, and Alison Espach.

A hundred years on from its birth, the music continues to speak to the heart — an art form that also serves as social commentary, communal history, and cathartic release.

The present we inhabit is shaped by the mixed legacies of the past.

This week, our editors recommend longreads by Benjamin Wofford, Josh Dzieza, Evan Osnos, Alice Wong & Ed Yong, and Dan Kois.

A testament to my sister, who likes to walk ahead.

This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jason Fagone and Alexandria Bordas, Jennifer Senior, Lachlan Summers, Lupita Limón Corrales, and Anna Wiener.

Ferments are found in every culture and cuisine on earth, and the history of their production is deeply interwoven with our own. 

This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Katie Barnes, Rachel Handler, Alex Hawkins, Lila Shapiro, and Raksha Vasudevan.

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

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

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