“For years, I practised medicine with cool certainty, comfortable with life-and-death decisions. Then, one day, I couldn’t.”
Search results
A New Series, An Unknown History, and the Week’s top 5
“Minstrelsy shows you one hand, convinces you of one thing—the thing you can see most vividly—while something else works behind the scenes. That something is something only those who are tapped into a specific kind of pain, a specific kind of quest for freedom that has failed before but is not worth abandoning, might understand.” […]
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Neal Allen and Anne Lamott
The authors of the new book Good Writing share their insights on reading, writing, and their day-to-day life.
An Age of Wonder (and Our Top 5)
Parenting lessons at a science museum, Catholic anti-war raiders, R. O. Kwon, and our top 5 reads of the week.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by Carolyn Ariella Sofia, Joy Williams, Ben Lerner, Steve Yarbrough, and Elizabeth Spiers.
Against Rereading
“For those who do not reread, a book is like a little life. When it ends, it dies—or it lives on, imperfectly and embellished, in your memories.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Eschatolgy, Texas style; dancing like nobody’s watching; the men, they myths, the legends; monumental responses; and notes fit for a King.
Best of 2025: The Stories You Missed
In a year of exceptional reading, these overlooked stories refused to let us go.
The After, and Our Top 5
An excerpt from the graphic memoir “Opioids & Organs,” the latest from The Atavist, and our Top 5.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Sharing stories from John Woodrow Cox, Sarah Blaskey, and Matt McClain; Daphne Chouliaraki Milner and Marcia Bjornerud; Susan Choi; Henry Wismayer; and Susannah Pratt.


