An Internet of Checkpoints
A mysterious YouTube video gave thousands of people a place to breathe. Then it vanished.
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New Longreads Essays and Features
35 and 1
A brother lost, a son born, and the strange arithmetic of love.
Vigilantes at Dawn
A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.
The Endless Self
Exploring animal life beyond the limits of human understanding.
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Weekly Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from Jane Ruffino, Bruce Li, Elsa Pearl, Joseph Howlett, and Lester Black.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Gaby Del Valle, Sheila Heti, Chris Pomorski, Louise Bokkenheuser, and Lida Zeitlin-Wu.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from Eve Fairbanks, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Rochelle L. Johnson, Joseph Winters and Tik Root, and Miles Ellingham.
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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.
Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.
More Longreads Essays and Features
‘I Promise You, You Have Your Soul.’
Three mothers, one struggle: saving their children with schizophrenia.
When Hannibal Lecter Took Over
With “The Silence of the Lambs” hitting theaters, Orion wanted a hit. They didn’t anticipate an antihero.
By All Measures
Our problems are too vast, our distance from them too great. How do we navigate our derangement of scale?
30 Years Later: Phyllis Hyman, “I Refuse to Be Lonely”
The singer’s first posthumous album deserves to be remembered as the bravest of her career.
Anatomy of Absolute Power
The people of Wilcox County, Alabama, remember a longtime sheriff as a god or a monster—it just depends on who you ask.
Best of 2025: The Stories You Missed
In a year of exceptional reading, these overlooked stories refused to let us go.
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Longreads Reading Lists
Long Live the Rom-Com
Love, Actually, Never Died: A reading list on the evolution of the romantic comedy.
Seeing is Believing: A Reading List on Making Meaning from Data
Eight stories on the power and beauty of visual communication.
‘Actually Really Sacred’: A George Saunders Reading List
Nine essays and interviews from literature’s favorite laureate of compassion.
Life on Display: A Reading List on Museums
Hushed halls can speak loud truths.
Map Room: A Radical Reading List on Cartographic Power, Perspective, and Possibility
Seven stories celebrating our fascination with maps.
Science Cheats: A Reading List on Unscrupulous Scientists
Six stories on the shady side of scholarship.
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