For eight years, a man with amnesia lived at a hospital in Mississippi. Who was he — and why had no one come looking for him?
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I Became a Pastor During the Pandemic
“But faith is like sandpaper on the soul: pain brought growth.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re sharing stories from Jennifer Senior, Danyel Smith, Christopher Mathias, Mitchell Consky, and Tamara Saade.
A Water Obsession and Our Weekly Top 5
“The majority of home water use takes place in the bathroom, so that’s where I started. I scaled back my showers to once a week and only flushed the toilet when the need was overwhelming. I wandered my dark little apartment doing calculations on a loop. How many gallons of water does the Livingston faucet […]
Unknown Costs
Forty-three million Americans need substance addiction treatment, but only a tiny fraction receive it. We know why.
The (Un-)Happiest Place on Earth and the Week’s Top 5
“I left Trip House at 8:12 on Saturday morning, having not been murdered, and drove to the Magic Kingdom. The woman at the ticket window asked if I’d come to Disney World to celebrate anything special, and I laughed. If I answered that question truthfully — using unmagical words like ‘genital,’ ‘student loan,’ and ‘gentrification’ […]
Pondering Parenthood, Meals for One, and Five Excellent Reads
“When faced with a dilemma I can’t solve, my usual strategy is to read. I order a bunch of books and immerse myself in other people’s experiences. It allows my thoughts to coalesce around a few themes; from there, I can see where I agree and where I diverge. To paraphrase Joan Didion, I read […]
Longreads Best of 2022: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
All the stories we’ve selected as number one in our weekly Top 5 newsletter.
What Care Looks Like at Every Scale (and Our Top 5)
An exploration of scale, limits, and care—featuring our new essay “By All Measures” and this week’s Top 5 reads.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Alyssa Roenigk, Rachel Monroe, Brad Rassler, Will Bahr, and Zachary B. Hancock.


