Wrestling With the Truth By Aaron Gilbreath Feature A 1992 murder of a young boy unravels a journalist’s dark family secrets.
It Was Like Nothing Else in My Life Up to Now By Josh Roiland Feature In searching for meaning behind a random encounter and his mother’s death, Josh Roiland explores compassion.
My Bad Parenting Advice Addiction By Longreads Feature When her son was born, Emily Gould read 25 books about babies and sleep, but wound up only more confused.
The Real Obama: An Interview with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Biographer David J. Garrow By Cody Delistraty Feature The author offers insights into the 44th President of the United States after interviewing over 1,000 people for Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.
How Temple of the Dog Pioneered a New Genre of Music Videos in the ’90s By Matt Giles Feature Fronted by Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog was the original rock supergroup. Their music video “Hunger Strike” helped launch a musical movement.
Death by Fire By Longreads Feature Forty years after his time with the U.S. Forest Service, a writer reflects on his years fighting fires out West, especially how fire shapes both forests and people.
The Admission By Stacy Torres Feature Stacy Torres recalls the mixture of frustration and relief that came with checking herself into a New York City psych ward at the age of 20.
Norma McCorvey Versus Jane Roe By Longreads Feature In 1970, a homeless woman pregnant with her third child met with two lawyers at a pizzeria in Dallas. Did it matter, in the end, who Jane Roe really was?
The Boom Boom Song By Richard Gilbert Feature A toddler teaches her grandfather about the deep emotional structure of babies and adults, the perfect yoga pose for a complete meltdown, and the imperative to boogie.
The Story of Memory: An Interview with Paula Hawkins By Cody Delistraty Feature Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on The Train and Into the Water, reflects on two unreliable things: narrators and memory.
The Best Longreads From Trump’s First 100 Days By Michelle Legro Feature After an exhausting first few weeks, the media dug in for the long fight ahead.
The Diagnosis and Surgery I Had to Fight For By Sari Botton Feature A series of doctors made it harder for me to learn about my severe uterine condition, and receive the hysterectomy I needed for it.
Snow, Death and Politics By Longreads Feature While snowed in on the West Coast, Frances Badalamenti grapples alone with her father’s death on the other side of what feels like a dying country.
The (Re)selling of Maria Sharapova By Longreads Feature On the longevity of Maria Sharapova, who has built a brand beyond the bounds of her tennis stardom that has made her incredibly wealthy, but still striving for more.
Pills and Thrills and Daffodils By Eva Tenuto Feature Years before Prince died of an overdose, his music provided a lifeline for Eva Tenuto.
On Becoming a Woman Who Knows Too Much By Longreads Feature Through my education I’d become a trusted source of specialized knowledge. But how could I become the kind of leader who is surrounded with people like me?
A History of American Protest Music: When Nina Simone Sang What Everyone Was Thinking By Tom Maxwell Feature “Mississippi Goddam” was an angry response to tragedy, in show tune form.
‘No One Should be Doomed to Just One Story’: An ‘S-Town’ Roundtable By Longreads Feature How we feel about a person’s privacy seems to correlate with how much control they have in the decision to open up.
On Island: Journeying to Penal Colonies, from Rikers to Robben By Roohi Choudhry Feature On journeys to Rikers Island in New York City and Robben Island in South Africa, Roohi Choudhry examines issues of incarceration and racism, and envisions a day when the convicted are no longer exiled to penal colonies.
The Currency of Cars: How to Leave a Husband By Debbie Weingarten Feature The rickety ’98 Volvo wagon didn’t look like much, but it provided Debbie Weingarten and her children safe passage to a new life.
How to Disappear By Alex Difrancesco Feature For Alex DiFrancesco, coming out as transgender—even to themself—wasn’t possible without first disappearing.
In 1975, Newsweek Predicted A New Ice Age. We’re Still Living with the Consequences. By Longreads Feature All climate change deniers needed was one article to cast doubt on the science of global warming.
The Elements of Bureaucratic Style By Colin Dickey Feature The bureaucratic voice presents governments and corporations as placid, apologetic, and unmovable. It also makes their victims as active as possible.
Considering the Wall By Longreads Feature Hadrian’s Wall, that is. Max Adams explores Britain’s lost early medieval past by walking its ancient paths.
The Bitter History of Law and Order in America By Andrea Pitzer Feature It has stifled suffrage, blamed immigrants for chaos, and suppressed civil rights. It’s also how Donald Trump views the entire world.
The High-Water Mark: The Battle of Gettysburg, the Jersey Shore, and the Death of My Father By Dane A. Wisher Feature Contemplating history, family, and today’s America, Dane A. Wisher tells the story of spreading his father’s ashes on the battlefield at Gettysburg National Park and coming to terms with his life and death.
Building In the Shadow of Our Own Destruction By Colin Dickey Feature Those who would build enormous structures—skyscrapers, bridges, border walls—should do so with an eye toward their eventual ruin.
Woman of Color in Wide Open Spaces By Minda Honey Feature While visiting national parks to detox from the oppressive whiteness of the MFA experience, Minda Honey is reminded the only places to retreat from whiteness in this country are the spaces women of color hold for each other.
The Immigration-Obsessed, Polarized, Garbage-Fire Election of 1800 By Longreads Feature A madman versus a crook? Unexpected twists? Fake news? Welcome to the election of 1800.