Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
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Editor’s Roundtable: Stories About Stories
Longreads editors discuss stories in ProPublica/The New Yorker, Wired, and Esquire.
Editors Roundtable: Violence of Men, Money, and Space (Podcast)
Catherine Cusick, Kelly Stout, Ethan Chiel, and Aaron Gilbreath discuss stories by Wil S. Hylton, Josephine Livingstone, Jesse Barron, and Rivka Galchen.
The Optics of Opportunity
Hafizah Geter sets the record straight on outrageous displays of racism and white privilege in a literary fellowship she took part in, after The New Yorker frames the story “as a quirky tale of wealth and nepotism.”
Did One Young Scientist Discover the Paleontology Pot of Gold?
Answers to some of paleontology’s most frustrating questions might lay in the dirt in North Dakota, but can the scientist who discovered them be believed?
My Childhood in a Cult
Actor, writer and screenwriter Guinevere Turner recalls growing up in a cult called “The Lyman Family,” and reveals its lingering effects on her, many years after her departure from it.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Ben Taub, Paige Blankenbuehler, Alex Horton, Victoria Gannon, and Gustavo Arellano.
This Week in Books: Farewell Longreads! I’m Taking This Rodeo to Substack.
To read my “This Week in Books” newsletter in the future, follow me on substack.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Caroline Chen, Keri Bertino, Ann Friedman, Allison Williams, and Brian Payton.

