The Shapes of Silence
On coming out and how secrets protect and harm us.
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Fuel, Medicine, Pleasure
What could it mean to give yourself the food you need to keep going? No punishing, no guilt, no withholding. Just nourishment.
‘I’m Not Sure What I’m Doing Here’
When only you can find the way home.
Three Strings: Past, Present, and Future
Finding beauty, human connection, and one’s heritage in the resonant sounds of the dulcimer.
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Kickstart your weekend by getting the week’s best reads, hand-picked and introduced by Longreads editors, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning.
Weekly Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
We’re recommending stories by Eric Boodman, Ann Neumann, Amos Barshad, Rosecrans Baldwin, and Danielle Elliot.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we are featuring stories from Mark Follman, Scott Stossel, Wei Tchou, Sara Franklin, and Alexander Sammon.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending noteworthy reads from Tim Prudente and Stokely Baksh, Rachel Aviv, Abby Tickell, Nick Zarzycki, and Andrea Sachs.
Essays and Features
The Curl of Time
On dementia, bullying, alcoholism, and selfless love.
Death of the Hiker
Lost on a dangerous trail, Leyton Cassidy’s thoughts take her down a dark path.
The Most Infamous Cop in New Orleans History
In 1994, a corrupt cop ordered a hit on a civilian.
He went away for murder, but he left a trail of other victims in his wake.
They are still crying out for justice.
My Name Is a Mountain
On language, belonging, and embracing the different versions of ourselves.
Insatiable: A Life Without Eating
When my Crohn’s disease took away food, it took what it means to be human.
‘Stay Away From Him. He’s Dangerous.’
“For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man—but the police knew his real name.”
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Reading Lists
Knife Insurance: An Extreme Surgery Reading List
Never before have so many people sought medical intervention to address their insecurities—and never before has that intervention gone to such lengths.
Girls Will Be Girls: A Reading List on Consumerism in the Internet Age
Are the scores of girl personas on TikTok just a marketing campaign? Let’s do the (girl) math.
Sliding into the Future: A Reading List on Snowsports
Pointless elitism, or an urgent dress rehearsal for the climate crisis?
One Thing After Another: A Reading List for Lovers & Makers of Lists
Five stories celebrating the power and beauty of lists.
Digital Havoc: A Reading List About Hacking
Behind the 1s and 0s, hackers are still people—and their motivations are more nuanced than you might think.
Alone, But Not Lonely: A Reading List on Being Single
Six stories about making a life of one’s own.
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