“Even if I had stopped it (economy), if I had closed the city for 30 days, no one goes in and no one goes out. At some point I would have had to open and at some point the virus would have gotten here.”
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Jane Mayer, Patricia Lockwood, Rachel E. Gross, and Theresa Okokon.
Covid Conversations With One of America’s Richest Men
When the pandemic hit, Max Abelson called the richest person he knew. In a series of conversations with this anonymous billionaire, we see life through the eyes of the privileged and wealthy.
The Cabin on the Mountain
“Sometimes, the mechanism of the answer is something ludicrously complex, a thing that must be pieced out bit by bit. Other times, the solution requires retooling your perspective.”
The Gift Economy
In the desert at Burning Man, Joanne Solomon dissects the implicit transaction that defines her cross-cultural love affair.
Longreads Best of 2021: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
Some Inland California History Begins with an Orange
Even as California’s Inland Empire loses its citrus industry to urbanization, urbanites can still keep social ties by planting fruit trees in their yards.
Switch at Birth — But How?
Two women gave birth on the same day in a place called Come By Chance. Half a century later, their children made a shocking discovery.
Books Are Not Products, They Are Bridges: Challenging Linear Ideas of Success in Literary Publishing
With five books to her name, an innovative author untangles the ways the white, patriarchal, capitalist publishing economy shapes authors’ sense of self-worth, literary identity, and inherited ideas about big versus small presses, and good versus break-out books.
Coronavirus Could End Trump’s Chance at Reelection, But Things Are Too Terrifying Right Now To Feel Hopeful
One Republican offers a ray of light during these dark times: That this pandemic will end the Trump presidency.

