“On patrol with the Guardian Angels.”
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The Claims of Close Reading
“Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.”
The Shooting of Two Cornell Freshmen, 42 Years Later
“In 1983 six students were taken hostage in a Cornell dormitory. Two of them were killed. How have the survivors reckoned with what happened to them, and what made us forget about this act of violence?”
One Step Removed from Ash
“I am still afraid of forgetting. There is much I have already forgotten.”
When Fact-Checking Meant Something
“Some of us threw up in the mornings before sitting down at our desks. Some of us smoked too much. All of us worried. But our state of doubt wasn’t only fearful; it was also electrifying.”
The Grab List: How Museums Decide What to Save in a Disaster
“Billions of dollars’ worth of art is imperilled by climate change. Curators will have to make sacrifices.”
He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive.
“A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.”
This Is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to the International Space Station
“There’s a good way to throw out the ISS. And then there’s a really bad way.”
Best of 2025: Our Most Popular Originals of the Year
Our 10 most-read Longreads essays of 2025.
The Baby Whisperer
“Marian Fraser once ran the go-to day care for Waco’s elite. But the community turned against her after she was arrested for the death of a child in her charge. The evidence against her was circumstantial, yet many came to believe there had long been a dark secret to her success.”
