A surreal train ride between Chicago and New Orleans proves that Amtrak still has a lot to offer. (Not including speed or the food.)
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Notable reads by Atef Abu Saif, Sonia Smith, James McNaughton, Dorothy Wickenden, and Kevin Koenig.
Moral Panics Come and Go. Sex Bracelet Hysteria Is Forever.
When the popularity of colored jelly bracelets led to a bizarre moral panic, it demonstrated more about adults than the kids wearing them. By the spring, a Fox News segment cautioned that “kids today may be trading sex acts like we traded baseball cards.” On Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer cautioned parents to ask their children […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Hannah Dreier, Jason Fagone and Julie Johnson, Shruti Swamy, John Jeremiah Sullivan, and Kristen Arnett.
Six Stories About a Complex Cuisine and Our Top 5
“Migration patterns, together with demographic trends and climate change, mean that the cuisine must adapt. Italian food—so rooted in tradition and adamant in its authenticity—will have to change.” In previous reading lists, Longreads contributor Clare Egan has explored a range of topics: Ireland, queer ecology, and the decision to have a child. This week, Egan dives […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Froggie regrets. A precious ticket to a Chicago Bulls game. A conversation about AI and nature. A profile of the world’s most famous unknown writer. And to finish, a look back to last Friday and a St. Patrick’s Day tradition. 1. Frog Anne Fadiman | Harper’s Magazine | February 10, 2023 | 5,816 words “There […]
Poets in the Machine
Why does the literary world still hold online writing at arm’s length?
Bomb the Multiplex: A ‘Barbenheimer’ Reading List
“With people turning a shared release date into a meme-fueled double feature, we rounded up our favorite reads about 2023’s oddest duo.”
The Greatest Hospitality Story Ever
While my uncle was dying from a rare cancer, he found solace in a hotel whose staff became a surrogate family.
Taken and Told
A filmmaker was producing a documentary series on the Iran hostage crisis. Then her father went missing overseas.


