Eight must-read stories that investigate science, belief, and the human impulse to tell stories.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Irin Carmon, Joe Bernstein, Robert Sanchez, Amanda Feinman, and Lois Beckett.
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.
Queens of Infamy: Boudicca
If you underestimate a woman determined to avenge violence against her daughters, prepare yourself to get sacked. On repeat.
The Power of a Judith Krantz Sex Scene
A ‘90s romance novel offers a glimpse of queer possibility and illuminates the complications of writing about queer love.
Longreads Best of 2020: Writing on COVID-19
Our top story picks in COVID-19 reporting this year.
Longreads Best of 2019: Music Writing
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in music writing.
This Month in Books: The Decameron Is Online
We can all quarantine alone, together, in one big villa in the cloud.
Public Education’s White Flight Problem
More than 50 years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, little has changed, and several groups are hoping to use policy and practice to fix this longstanding issue.

