Every story that appeared in the number one slot in our Weekly Top 5, all in one place.
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Chrishona Hodges’s Life Sentence
“At a crossroads when Chicago profiled him nine years ago, Jerryon Stevens is now in jail, awaiting trial on a murder charge. At home, his mother reckons with her son’s path — and tries to hold her fractured family together.”
A New Series, An Unknown History, and the Week’s top 5
“Minstrelsy shows you one hand, convinces you of one thing—the thing you can see most vividly—while something else works behind the scenes. That something is something only those who are tapped into a specific kind of pain, a specific kind of quest for freedom that has failed before but is not worth abandoning, might understand.” […]
Who’s Afraid of Spatchcocked Chicken?
“Squeamishness around meat is embedded into the English language — and by extension, Western attitudes towards the realities of meat.”
The Greatest Scam Ever Written
“They were believers—in astrology, in psychics, in fortune telling—who longed for transformation, salvation, fortune.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we feature stories from Tom Scocca, Giles Harvey, Chris Walker, Krithika Varagur, and N.C. Happe.
Diving into 2024 with an Excerpt and Our Top 5
“She did live. She had to wear a catheter for several weeks, but she got better. The long recovery gave Debra time to think on what she wanted to do about the man who had hurt her.” Welcome to 2024! We are back for another year of editors’ picks, stirring originals, and inspiring reading lists. Kicking […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash, Kyung Lah, Anna-Maja Rappard, Casey Tolan, Lou Robinson, and Byron Manley; Lindsey Liles; David Gauvey Herbert; Laura Trethewey; and Abe Beame.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re highlighting stories from Tom Lamont, Charlotte Alter, Dženana Vucic, John Paul Scotto, and Devin Friedman.
It’s Time to Legalize Sampling
“Hip-hop is 50 years old, but the genius idea at its core remains unprotected. Here’s how we can change that.”


