Longreads features

Failure To Lawn

On what a dying patch of turfgrass can teach us about water scarcity, ecological repair, and the lies we tell ourselves about success.

The Secret Door

“When we read, we make believe. We arenโ€™t duped or ensorcelled. Deep down we decide. We make ourselves believe.”

Was It Worth It?

“I didnโ€™t think about those nachos even once. I had never experienced anything like it. Is this, I asked my friends, how it feels to be normal?”

The Wayfinders

The Marshall Islandsโ€™ first national soccer team discovers what โ€œhomeโ€ can meanโ€”on a field in Arkansas.

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Recent editors’ picks

Building an AI Data Center in Pine Island, Minnesota

Thomas James Weber | The Paris Review | May 21, 2026 | 2,833 words

“I learned about the data center as soon as the scrappy sign was erected. I was thrilled to see something new; my drive hasnโ€™t changed much in three years. Iโ€ฆ

Is Yoko Ono the Most Radical Artist of the Trump Era?

Amanda Fortini | T Magazine | April 30, 2026 | 3,017 words

“In the 1960s, she invited an audience to cut off her clothes. As attacks on womenโ€™s rights escalate, ‘Cut Piece’ and other decades-old works of feminist art feel more relevantโ€ฆ

The Wrong Stalker

Matthias Gafni | The San Francisco Chronicle | May 18, 2026 | 12,160 words

“He was locked up for a dangerous infatuation. Nothing was as it seemed.”

Iโ€™m a Normie. Can Normies Really Vibe Code?

Chris Colin | Wired | May 18, 2026 | 2,327 words

“Apparently anyone can vibe code anything these days. So Claude and I tried to make a database for tracking the petty grievances of the masses.”

Are We There Yet?

James Wade | Texas Highways | May 1, 2026 | 3,479 words

“A family trips and stumbles across 3,000 miles of Texas.”

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Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Stories from Mina Tavakoli, Lindsey Adler, Joshua Jackson, Ben Tarnoff, Paloma Karr, and Jon Greenaway.

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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.

Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.

The Longreads questionnaire

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Excerpts from The Atavist Magazine, our sister publication

Open Season

“Coloradoโ€™s San Luis Valley was a wildlife poacherโ€™s paradise. Then an undercover federal agent arrived.”

The Good Catholics of Buffalo

With thousands of US soldiers dying in Vietnam, a righteous group of young New Yorkers embarked on a secret mission to bring the war machine to its knees.

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Longreads reading lists

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