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Longreads Best of 2021: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
The Nurse Who Names the Dead
Inside a Texas nurse’s quest to document the life and death of every woman killed by a man in America.
The Women Who Built Grunge
Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects. Thirty years later, it’s time to reassess their legacy.
The Criminalization of the American Midwife
New York midwife Elizabeth Catlin faces 95 individual felony counts at her upcoming trial. For what? For doing her job. Politics and patriarchy make the work of many credentialed, experienced midwives illegal — to the detriment of women and underserved communities.
Longreads Best of 2019: Essays
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in essays.
Shades of Grey
In 2018, Floridians voted overwhelmingly to end greyhound racing, a sport they were told was archaic and inhumane. What if they were wrong?
Longreads Best of 2019: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Our top picks of the year, all in one place.
Paul Clarke Wants to Live
When a promising student left a neighborhood full of heroin for the University of Pennsylvania, it should have been a moving story. But what does an at-risk student actually need to thrive — or even just to survive?
Barely There
Jennifer Baker considers the ways in which hair removal rituals, begun in her tween years, have helped her achieve body acceptance and connect with her own desire.

