The best stories of the week, as chosen by the editors of Longreads.
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Playing with History: What Sid Meier’s Video Game Empire Got Right and Wrong About ‘Civilization’
Twenty-five years ago, Meier turned human history into a video game, and sold 33 million copies along the way. With the launch of Civilization VI, Kanishk Tharoor takes a closer look at its impact.
The Mask of Deception: The Ultimate Test to My Recovery From Porn Addiction
Novelist Benjamin Obler was feeling secure in his recovery from porn addiction. Then along came Franny, to test it.
“BRAAAM!”: The Sound that Invaded the Hollywood Soundtrack
How Inception changed the way we listen to movies.
‘Let’s Suck This Week Less Than We Did Last Week’: An Oral History of The Stranger
Twenty-five years after its debut, here is the story of an independent newspaper in Seattle that spawned Dan Savage and won a Pulitzer Prize.
What We Saw in Washington, D.C.
What the Trump inauguration and Women’s March reveal about the next four years in America.
The Nine Lives of Cat Videos
Are cat videos mindless distraction or a radical form of pure entertainment? A visit to the Internet Cat Video Festival at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our favorite stories of the week.
Why Would Two Girls Attempt Murder for Slender Man?
In 2014, two 12-year-old girls stabbed a friend, arguing that they did it for a fictional internet horror creature named Slender Man.
The Nine Lives of Cat Videos
Are cat videos mindless distraction or a radical form of pure entertainment? A visit to the Internet Cat Video Festival at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

