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

This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything

Vauhini Vara | The Atlantic | May 21, 2026 | 1,884 words

“A magazineโ€™s response to accusations of publishing AI-generated fiction points to a new phase in the struggle to keep literature human.”

Love Languageย 

Katie Thornton | Harper’s Magazine | May 21, 2026 | 6,963 words

โ€œThe undying dream of Esperanto.โ€œ

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

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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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