“The Saker sisters seemed to be the model of rural ingenuity…upstanding community members and principled entrepreneurs.” In reality, they were fraudsters, grifting the Canadian government, all the while fooling the public with a veneer of success and a sniff of social responsibility in their food operations. Even the judge couldn’t resist the urge to respond […]
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The Age of Dinosaurs
“Ruminating on extinction, under the slanted tutelage of my child, felt like a responsible thing to do.”
Care Tactics
In an ableist world, health care systems and tech innovators are more invested in high-tech solutions and shiny objects that don’t consider disabled folks’ actual needs during the design process. Many in the disability and caregiving communities rely on their own creative hacks instead, leaning on a culture of collaboration and shared knowledge to make […]
Taking Stock
Rob Horning explores the term “creator” in this essay on labor, exploitation, and content production and consumption on the internet. “Creator,” like “creativity,” is essentially a null term that signifies nothing about one’s activity but instead marks one’s limitless availability — a willingness to make anything at all in one’s life into content for sale.
Getting Sober Again
Natalie Lima recounts relapsing during the pandemic, halting two years of sobriety with cheap vodka in “less than the length of a song.” At Catapult, she shares the winding path of her recovery and what she missed most during her seven-month relapse. What I missed most, during this relapse, was my writing practice—a pursuit that […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Lizzie Presser, Richard Smith, Drew Magary, David Fowler, and Douglas Starr.
Best of 2025: All Our Number Five Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number five slot in our weekly newsletter, in a handy digest.
Best Of 2023: Features
At the time of this writing, Longreads editors have created nearly 650 recommendations in 2023, and just about every one of them can be considered a feature. However, you’ll find that the stories contained herein are features in the classic sense: marriages of deep reporting and indelible prose. Some are light, others emotionally taxing. Their […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by Kelley Engelbrecht, Sam Anderson, Lindsey Liles, Jeannette Cooperman, and Claire McNear.
New York City on Fire (and Our Top 5)
“As with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, for instance, the lead-up to the arson campaign on November 25, 1864, was long, ugly, and both actively and tacitly encouraged by powerful men.” Hello, Friday! To help kick off your weekend, we’ve rounded up some reads for you. Our first recommendation, from […]


