Longreads : The best longform stories on the web

“The structural conditions shaping care work are highly exploitative—and are profoundly linked to the high degree of COVID-19’s spread within both long-term care facilities and the communities that supply their labor force.”

The Beautiful Incompleteness of Dusk

By Krista Stevens Highlight

“Darkness obscures and sunlight reveals, but dusk—that liminal moment in between—murmurs suggestions.”

The Mysterious Case of a Nameless Hiker

By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

A friendly and charming hiker was known on the trail as “Mostly Harmless.” After his body was discovered in a tent in Florida, no one could figure out who he was.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Jane Mayer, Nicholas Thompson, Gabriel Winant, Rachel Lord Elizondo, and Pamela Petro.

Let Me In

By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“A young guy has received admission into two American universities, but still gets rejected. One boy from my queue is given the visa. His smile is so luminous it is like he’s going straight to heaven. “

Bonded by Grief, Pain, and Loss

By Krista Stevens Highlight

“Do you know what it means to have a wound that never heals?”

Roxie Laybourne: the World’s First Forensic Ornithologist

By Krista Stevens Highlight

“Having spent thousands of hours preparing thousands upon thousands of specimens, Laybourne had accumulated a library’s worth of knowledge about birds.”

‘These Were His Mountains, After All’: Remembering One’s Father While Cycling in the Swiss Alps

By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

James Jung thought he rode the winding narrow roads of the Alps to memorialize his dad. He was wrong.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Hannah Dreier, Doug Bock Clark, Samanth Subramanian, Michael Hobbes, Jonathan Cohn, Kate Sheppard, Alex Kaufman, Delphine D’Amora, Chris D’Angelo, and Emily Peck, and Kris Willcox and Michelle Ruiz.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Peter Eisler, Linda So, Jason Szep, Grant Smith, Ned Parker, and Jaed Coffin, Sarah Gilman, Katy Kelleher, and Irris Makler.

Books

The Powerful Decide

By Longreads Feature

What makes good or bad design happen anywhere depends on who has the most power.

‘The Sea and Sky Decide What They Will Allow’

By Krista Stevens Highlight

“I’m working on a book about Arctic explorers, and that means swimming in a sea of sorrow.”

The Grieving Landscape

By Longreads Feature

Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.

This Week in Books: Farewell Longreads! I’m Taking This Rodeo to Substack.

By Dana Snitzky Commentary

To read my “This Week in Books” newsletter in the future, follow me on substack.

Palliative Brownies

By Krista Stevens Highlight

“I grew up in the grip of the epidemic, maturing as people I adored as surrogate aunties and uncles fell ill and vanished from our lives.”

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Current Events

Inside the Chaos of Immigration Court

By Gabriel Thompson Feature

Gabriel Thompson takes us into San Francisco Immigration Court and the labyrinthine system that asylum seekers—and attorneys and judges—are up against.

How to Learn Everything: The MasterClass Diaries

By Irina Dumitrescu Feature

A professor embarks on a six-month binge of celebrity-led online courses.

Fire/Flood: A Southern California Pastoral

By Yxta Maya Murray Feature

In and around Los Angeles, natural and man-made disasters have been inextricable for almost two centuries.

“Do You Get Shit for Your Name?”

By Osama Shehzad Feature

When your name is Osama and you’re living in post-9/11 America, you always know The Question is coming.

The Endgame of the Olympics

By Dvora Meyers Feature

What if the Olympic Games never come back?