From Elisa Albert’s acclaimed 2006 collection, the infamous short story that turned Philip Roth’s playbook inside out.
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Longreads Best of 2017: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
The Truth About Writing Fiction From Your Life
A conversation about writing novels that have roots in reality.
The False Promise of DNA Testing
DNA typing has long been used as irrefutable proof of guilt or innocence in the criminal-justice system, but errors made in crime labs have many questioning its effectiveness.
The Encyclopedia of the Missing
She keeps watch over one of the largest databases of missing persons in the country. For Meaghan Good, the disappeared are still out here, you just have to know where to look.
The Joys and Sorrows of Watching My Own Birth
Shelby Vittek reflects on the bittersweet experience of watching herself be born — and her now-divorced mom and dad become parents — again and again.
As Innocuous as Plant No. 1
William Vollman enters the radioactive red zone to visit the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Here is My Heart
Long after the shooting at her old high school, Megan Stielstra worries about her father’s heart. Part one of a three-part series on gun violence.
The United States of America: A Country of Contradictions
Conservative political commentator Andrew Sullivan recently became a United States citizen. In New York magazine, Sullivan reflects on how he learned to embrace the U.S.’s flaws and virtues as he watched the country go through social and political shifts over the last three decades.
Twinless in Twinsburg
Anya Groner examines her experience of being an identical twin through the lens of an annual Twins Day festival she attended without her sister.

