Searching for ritual during a season of mystery.
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Posted inNewsletter
Our Attraction to Disaster and the Week’s Top 5
“Deep in the valley below us, in the middle distance, gaped the great black cauldron of Litli-Hrútur, its insides awash in a churning fiery stew. We stood in silence on the observation mound with our hands on our hips, faces cast in childish masks of wonder and awe.” Last week, I hit the natural hazard […]
Posted inFeature
Best of 2025: All Our Number Five Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number five slot in our weekly newsletter, in a handy digest.
Posted inReading List
Holding Pattern: A Reading List on Waiting . . .
Everyone waits. No one is spared the waiting room, one way or another. Seven stories on an essential human condition.
Posted inFeature
The Eloquent Vindicator in the Electric Room
No one remembers the assassination of Congressman James M. Hinds. What do we risk by making it just another part of American history?
Posted inFeature
Thank You for Finding Me
As a teenager, I met a stranger who changed the course of my life. Twenty years later, I went looking for him.
Posted inQuestionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Maria Popova
The creator of The Marginalian and author of the new book Traversal responds to 25 questions on writing, reading, and creativity.
Posted inNewsletter
A “Super” Walk of Contradictions (and Our Top 5)
“To my right is one of the largest manmade toxic holes on Earth. To my left, shelves of coal-colored slag piled twenty feet high. And underfoot, ten thousand miles of poisoned shafts swimming with ghosts.” Hello from Berkeley, California. Our family loves to explore the city’s parks, where we can hike through redwood forests in […]
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Eschatolgy, Texas style; dancing like nobody’s watching; the men, they myths, the legends; monumental responses; and notes fit for a King.
