Longreads features

Vinyl in the Veins

Behind the nostalgia lies an uncomfortable truth: Every record is made of oil.

My Almond Archive

In southeastern Italy, almond groves hold centuries of local history. A granddaughter returns to gather the bitter and the sweet.

Living in an Alive World

Soft eyes, deep listening, and other ways to extend human perception beyond our limits.

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Recent editors’ picks

He’s the Last Great Land Artist You’ve Never Heard Of

Travis Diehl | The New York Times | July 22, 2026 | 2,580 words

“Charles Ross spent 50 years building ‘Star Axis,’ a naked-eye observatory in New Mexico. Now his masterwork is ready. How to share it with a changed world?”

Gassed Up

Mitch Hagney | Offrange | July 19, 2026 | 1,902 words

“Tomato ripening rooms reveal the growing costs of the produce industryโ€™s massive consolidation.”

A Dying Art

John Semley | Harper’s Magazine | July 22, 2026 | 6,354 words

“The last of the morticians.”

Beckett the Prophet

Robert Zaretsky | The American Scholar | July 20, 2026 | 1,560 words

“We are all, it seems, still waiting for Godot.”

The Children Who Loved a Killer

Masha Hamilton | The Guardian | July 22, 2026 | 5,757 words

โ€œThe Carr family took in Steven Judy, hoping to โ€˜saveโ€™ a troubled teen. They didnโ€™t know he would become one of the most hated men in America.โ€

Beyond Greece and Rome

Carlos Norenฬƒa | Aeon | July 20, 2026 | 4,100 words

“A dramatic shift in perspective is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of โ€˜the ancient world.โ€™”

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Weekly Top 5

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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

God’s Children

The Kerrs were devoted to one another and to their faith. But when one of their own rejected modern medicine, they faced a dire question: What if her children ever needed a doctor to save their lives?

The Fugitive Childhood of a Cocaine Smuggler’s Daughters

“When their parents ripped two young sisters from their privileged lives, gave them fake names, and took them on the lam, they thought it was because their father was in trouble with the IRS. It would be years before they learned the truth about his life of crime.”

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Longreads reading lists

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