All through December, we’ll be featuring Longreads’ Best of 2016. To get you ready, here’s a list of every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
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Longreads Best of 2016: Investigative Reporting
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in investigative reporting
‘Why Don’t Pure Loves Meet?’ On the Radio in Afghanistan
In this beautiful piece from Matter, Mujib Mashal takes the reader to the Afghani airwaves, into the hearts of its listeners. From the complications of arranged marriage to online dating woes, the youth of Afghanistan have a lot on their minds. DJ Ajmal Noorzai solemnly shares their stories on his program, The Night of Lovers.
Ruback
A newspaper journalist’s attempt to correct the record.
Ruback
A newspaper journalist’s attempt to correct the record.
Unfollow
How social media changed the beliefs of a devout member of the Westboro Baptist Church, which pickets the funerals of gay men and of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Letter to an Ex, on the Occasion of His Suicide
In the wake of a troubled ex-lover’s suicide, novelist Masha Hamilton tries to make sense of it in a correspondence to his ghost.
Letter to an Ex, on the Occasion of His Suicide
In the wake of a troubled ex-lover’s suicide, novelist Masha Hamilton tries to make sense of it in a correspondence to his ghost.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. Unfollow Adrian Chen | The New Yorker | Nov. 16, 2015 | 42 minutes (10,643 words) How social media changed the beliefs of […]
Writing Our America
“Despite the headlines that came after the election calling this country ‘Trump’s America’—and there were many—I won’t call it that, or see it that way. And regardless of your politics I’ll ask you to join me. This is our America. It’s our America to write in, and our America to write.”

