Vinyl in the Veins
Beneath the wave of nostalgia sits a hard-to-ignore reality: Oil is the essential ingredient in every record.
by Kyle Devine
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Longreads features
My Almond Archive
In the southeastern part of Italy, almond orchards carry centuries of regional heritage. A granddaughter journeys back to collect both the bitter and the sweet.
July 7, 2026
Curiosity as Compassion: A Conversation with Susan Orlean
The significance of building resilience and maintaining curiosity for those who write.
June 25, 2026June 25, 2026
The Cousin Returns
About making a homecoming to the Philippines.
June 16, 2026June 16, 2026
‘It’s More Like a Playlist’: Lavinia Spalding on Editing the Best Women’s Travel Writing
The person behind The Best Women’s Travel Writing series discusses curation, dealing with grief and lightness, and the kinds of stories she hopes will appear more frequently.
June 11, 2026
Living in an Alive World
Techniques like soft eyes and deep listening for pushing human awareness beyond its usual boundaries.
June 2, 2026June 2, 2026
The Grate Cheese Robbery
The story of how organized crime developed a passion for cheese.
May 28, 2026May 28, 2026
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Recent editors’ picks
The Real Life Mermaids of Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs
Jack Burke | Huck | July 2, 2026 | 2,317 words
“The fragility and fantasy of old America.”
Why Are Berries Everywhere, in Every Season? Driscoll’s.
Julia Moskin | The New York Times | July 7, 2026 | 1,848 words
“The California giant has helped turn a local, seasonal treat into a worldwide refrigerator staple and marketing juggernaut.”
The Rosenberg Boys
Amy Weiss-Meyer | The Atlantic | July 10, 2026 | 8,017 words
“When Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed by the U.S. government, they left behind two sons, ages 6 and 10. All these years later, Robby and Michael are still trying…
Little Monsters
Meghan Flaherty | Virginia Quarterly Review | July 15, 2026 | 6,777 words
“Meeting your kids in the Forgotten Realms.”
Welcome to Toronto, World Capital of the Urban Raccoon
Dan Werb | Literary Hub | July 15, 2026 | 2,896 words
Dan Werb on the understated intelligence of the animals that share our cities.
The Service
Ariel Delgado Dixon | The Dial | July 13, 2026 | 2,376 words
“A post-mortem on New York City’s weed underground.”
The Hydration-Break World Cup
Jonathan Wilson | The Paris Review | July 10, 2026 | 1,846 words
“How much can fans conveniently forget in order to enjoy the games? The answer, evidently, is a lot.”
Inside America’s Shoplifting Lab
Alexander Sammon | Slate | July 13, 2026 | 6,972 words
“In the war on ‘shrink,’ big retailers are turning to one Florida outfit to study shoppers and prevent them from stealing. I went there—and saw far too much.”
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Weekly Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Suggesting pieces by Hua Hsu, Amanda Petrusich, Michelle Cyca, Emily Nemens, and Helen Lewis.
July 10, 2026
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Outstanding works from Mark Singer, Jennifer Kabat, Ann Lee, Thomas Lake, and Natalia Galicza
June 26, 2026
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Including stories by Christopher Hooks, Peter Hessler, Carrie Sun, Jack Burke, and Caity Weaver.
June 19, 2026
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Learn to Love Your Search Results Again.
Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender.
The Longreads questionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Aymann Ismail
The Slate journalist and Becoming Baba author considers Newark and mosques as places of belonging, making sense of Egypt on lengthy flights, and the experience of becoming a dad.
July 15, 2026July 16, 2026
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Elisa Gabbert
The writer of Any Person Is the Only Self and a recent Guggenheim recipient discusses the worst time of day, the merit of wasting an hour, and chilaquiles.
July 8, 2026July 8, 2026
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Cory Doctorow
The mind behind Enshittification and the new The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI talks about hammock living, the pleasure of pulp, and pushing through the writing process.
June 17, 2026
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Excerpts from The Atavist Magazine, our sister publication
God’s Children
The Kerr family was deeply committed to each other and to their beliefs. However, when one of them turned away from modern medicine, a troubling question emerged: What would happen if her children ever required a doctor to survive?
July 16, 2026
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.”
June 4, 2026
‘Nothing Together’
The killing of my brother and what followed.
May 21, 2026
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Longreads reading lists
Constructions, Concoctions, Conjurations: A Reading List on the Curious World of Conlangs
Inventing things is more difficult, stranger, and at times more hazardous than it appears. Seven narratives examining the realm of constructed languages.
by Kanya Kanchana
July 2, 2026
Daylight Savings Time: A (Beach) Reading List for the Lighthearted
Summer is here, folks. Let’s indulge in some lightheartedness.
by Lisa Bubert
June 30, 2026
Brave New World: A Reading List About the Dark Future
Five stories that make Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel seem like nonfiction.
by Lisa Bubert
June 23, 2026June 23, 2026
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