We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in local reporting.
Search results
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Ronan Farrow, Diana Nyad, Rachel Monroe, Ross Andersen, and Teresa Mathew.
The Haväng Dolmen
A trip to a Swedish stone-age burial site gives an archaeologist too close a look at death.
My Thoughts Are Murder
Still looking for some post-election inspiration? Try watching Heathers, and/or standing in front of a classroom. Pete Coviello pens an essay on “loving your students, hating your enemies, and Winona.”
The Thrill (and the Heavy Emotional Burden) of Blazing a Trail for Black Women Journalists
Dorothy Butler Gilliam remembers how exciting it was to integrate The Washington Post, but also how lonely — and often attacked — she felt as the first black woman reporter in the newsroom.
Maybe We’ll Register Your Marriage After You Walk the Bomb-Sniffing Dog
All they really wanted was to live happily ever after.
We’re Not Ready for Mars
Elon Musk can’t wait to send humans to the Moon and Mars. But before we land ourselves on other worlds, we need to remember how we’ve treated our own.
How Some Apache People Deal with Intergenerational Trauma
In the mountains of northern Mexico, some of Geronimo’s decedents try to forgive the perpetrators of the wars against Native Americans.
When Zora and Langston Took a Road Trip
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston gave Langston Hughes a lift to Tuskegee in her Nash coupe, nicknamed “Sassy Susie.” It was one of most fortuitous hangouts in literary history.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Steve Kolowich; Stephanie Clifford and Jessica Silver-Greenberg; Taffy Brodesser-Akner; Carolyn Murnick; and Jamie Lauren Keiles.

