“The idea that romantic love is the most powerful love is unhelpful because it demotes all the other ways that you can love in your life. And none of them are weaker than romantic love, but we seem to think that they’re not as good. They’re not as important.”
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Posted inFeature
Best of 2025: Our Most Popular Originals of the Year
Our 10 most-read Longreads essays of 2025.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Gift Thinking
“The relationships, abundance, and reciprocity of nature’s economy.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man
“In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first taught him: his father.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Friend or Faux?
“Millions of people are turning to AI for companionship. They are finding the experience surprisingly meaningful, unexpectedly heartbreaking, and profoundly confusing, leaving them to wonder, ‘Is this real? And does that matter?’”
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Editor at Longreads Cheri reads and edits stories across all subjects, and especially enjoys essays on the internet and technology that remind us of our shared humanity, stories about interesting communities, unexpected takes on identity and place, deep dives into your obsessions, and reported essays with strong personal narratives. She loves the chance to publish […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America
“Susie Wiles helped dismantle Ron DeSantis and salvaged Donald Trump’s campaign. Is she a MAGA hero or an enemy of democracy?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
On Death and Love
“As Melanie Challenger examines the belief in human exceptionalism that has devastated life on this planet, she wonders if our desire to outrun death is hindering our capacity to love.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Foreign Language That Changed My Teenage Son’s Life
“I worried about his ability to fit in. But then he fell in love with Russian — and on a trip to Central Asia, he flourished.”
