“Operation Babylift was an earnest attempt to save children during the fall of Saigon. Decades later, a generation of adoptees wrestles with the aftermath.”
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Second and Long
“Why did James Whitehead—poet, fiction writer, and onetime college football player—fail to complete a successor to his celebrated first novel?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Kate Mossman, Luke Winkie, Lou Stoppard, Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne, and Rosa Lyster.
My Grandpa, the Fascist?
“An old family album sent me on a journey through Italy’s dark past in Libya.”
Our Sister’s Netflix Hit and the Week’s Top 5
“But all was not well in the house on the corner of Lincoln Road and 52nd Street. It belonged to Dennis and Brenda Bowman, a married couple with two children. For the Bowmans, March 11 marked the last time they saw their 14-year-old daughter, Aundria, alive.” We’ve got some big news this week from our […]
What Lies Beneath
“This is the grand Tahoe experiment: if we throw the book at aquatic invasives, can we, as the bumper stickers say, Keep Tahoe Blue?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending excellent stories from Lewis Hyde, Reeves Wiedeman, Sam Myers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and David W. Brown.
A Year in Reading: A Shift in Perspective
The stories that sparked awe and made me think differently in 2024.
He Was Convicted of Killing His Baby. The DA’s Office Says He’s Innocent, but That Might Not Be Enough.
“When new scientific evidence casts doubt on convictions, the justice system has no easy path to freedom —even when it’s the prosecutors doing the asking.”
Help Us Stay a Home for the Weird
“Invite writers and readers in—magic will follow.” Six years ago, I published my first essay as an editor for Longreads. Margot Harris’s “Under the Knife” opens with a scene of cupcakes shaped like private parts (and goes on to discuss the guilt of having cosmetic surgery as a feminist). What a privilege, I thought at […]


