With her profiles of Toni Morrison, Dave Chapelle, James Baldwin, and more, Ghansah is an unparalleled chronicler of black excellence.
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My Journey to the Heart of the FOIA Request
Fifty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act gave the public access to government secrets — all you had to do was ask. How a simple request became a bureaucratic nightmare.
I’ve Found Her
Photos of an elderly French stranger has one Canadian writer examining the threads that connect people across continents and generations.
‘My Depression’ Author Elizabeth Swados on Her Brother’s Mental Illness, Homelessness and Early Death
The theater and lit worlds suffered a great loss this week with the passing, Tuesday, of Elizabeth Swados, 64, a prolific writer and composer .
Yearning for My Emo Days in Nostalgia-Inducing Asbury Park
Mabel Rosenheck looks back at a group of friends, and a music festival on the Jersey Shore, that came along when she needed them most.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editors at Longreads.
Harnessing His Superpowers for Peace in the Middle East
As an 8-year-old with OCD, Howard Lovy hoped his magical thinking might persuade God to end the Yom Kippur War.
Youth From Every Quarter
A teacher at an elite boarding school confronts her own confused leap up the ladder of class privilege.
The Ghosts of the Tsunami
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami killed thousands in Japan. Those left behind were haunted by the dead, and some were possessed by them.
Little Government in the Big Woods
Melissa Gilbert’s lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of ‘Little House on the Prairie.’

