This week, our editors recommend stories by Bushra Seddique, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Laura Mauldin, Kathryn Miles, and Lucas Mann.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
“Featuring reads from Grace Glass and Sasha Tycko, Max Graham, Alex Blasdel, James Somers, and Ben Goldfarb.”
The Food of America and Our Top 5
As Thanksgiving and gluttony approach, I’ve been thinking about what foods represent America and how eating can shape a sense of identity—a theme past Longreads writers have been drawn to.
Belting out Songs and Our Top 5
“There’s something about losing yourself in a communal experience that’s immensely appealing in this age of virtual meetings and not-so-social media. We want to see the artists we love in person. We want to believe they’re singing directly to us.” Elizabeth Blackwell, a regular commentator on cultural phenomena (check out her Reality TV and Pivotal […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Jane Mayer, Priscilla Long, Claire L. Evans, David Alm, and Sophie Haigney.
Finding the Way Home and The Week’s Top 5
“I explain my original plan to catch a ferry into Nova Scotia and ride the Cabot Trail on the province’s northern reaches. I don’t tell him that I can’t go home until I learn something. What, I don’t know. Nevermind how.” Hello and welcome to the weekend! We’ve got a new feature, an excerpt, and […]
A Friend Named Arthur and The Week’s Top 5
“But now I like to imagine him in Paris, sitting at a cafĂ©, drinking an espresso, his notebook open, full of notes and poetry. It’s easy to picture in my mind. He’d look perfect there.” Four years ago, Kevin Sampsell lost his friend Arthur to suicide. He started writing about him three years ago—but the […]
Rediscovering Joy in Learning and Our Top 5 Longreads of the Week
“I am driving and someone I love trusts me enough to fall asleep in the passenger seat. I am older and I don’t have an answer to are we there yet. I am a father and I poke my child’s knee to keep them up with me. I am driving home. I’ve never done that, you […]
Holograms of the Holocaust (and Our Top 5)
“Over many decades, my grandmother gave responses to thousands of questions, wrote tens of thousands of words, and spoke for hours and hours while tapes rolled. She would be, in other words, the perfect candidate for AI reanimation.” In my household, the transition from summer to fall has been tough. Lately, to help my daughter […]
On Resilience and Our Top 5
“It is hard, I think, to learn as an adult. This is not some profound statement. It just is. But it is not hard because of the fact of it; it is hard because learning anything means learning again how to learn. It’s not that riding a bike is hard; it’s that learning is hard. […]


