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Communion

How a lonely man in his 30s found welcome and community in an unlikely place: spin class.

by Raleigh McCool

Illustration with grid of white bicycles, with a lone yellow bicycle. Bicycles are against a black background, connected with two-sided arrows in between them.

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Love Wins

“Two women promised they would see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time once they were together. They had no idea how long that would take.”

by Longreads September 10, 2024September 11, 2024

Danger on the Divide

“If I’d felt more confident on the route, if he hadn’t made that comment, if we’d been communicating more, would I have pushed for another day off? If, if, if.”

by Maggie Slepian August 15, 2024August 16, 2024

A Journey of 6,000 Miles

Layan Albaz is one of thousands of Palestinian children who have lost limbs in Israeli air strikes—and one of the very few evacuated to the US for medical care.

by Longreads August 6, 2024August 5, 2024

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Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Featuring stories by Michael Lewis, Patricia Wen, Ted Chiang, Katie Thornton, and Sarah Smarsh.

September 6, 2024September 5, 2024

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Highlighting stories from Alex Morris, Gordy Megroz, Patricia Marx, Leigh Claire La Berge, and Anne Casselman.

August 30, 2024August 29, 2024

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending stories by Pamela Colloff, Jasper Craven, Omer Bartov, Judith Sanders, and Lale Arikoglu.

August 23, 2024August 22, 2024

Editors’ Picks

The Final Penalty

David Gambacorta | The Philadelphia Inquirer | September 9, 2024 | 6,446 words

“Eagles 1980 Super Bowl icons, damaged by the game they loved, struggle to get compensated through the NFL’s controversial concussion deal.”

Living In A Lucid Dream

Claire L. Evans | Noēma | July 1, 2024 | 3,921 words

“Recent research on lucid dreams suggests that consciousness exists along a spectrum between sleep and waking, between hallucination and revelation, between dreamworlds and reality.”

My Harmony With the Heron

Jarod K. Anderson | Atmos | September 9, 2024 | 2,950 words

“In an excerpt from his new memoir, Something in the Woods Loves You, Jarod K. Anderson shares how nature became a balm for his mental health and depression.”

The Nazi of Oak Park

Michael Soffer | Chicago Magazine | September 3, 2024 | 7,645 words

“It was a stunning revelation: A respected high school custodian had been a concentration camp guard. This excerpt of a new book examines how the disclosure of a dark secret…

Army Vet, Double Amputee, and Athlete Christy Gardner Has Never Let Anything Stop Her

Kathryn Miles | Down East | August 27, 2024 | 2,935 words

“When she’s not training service and therapy dogs through her nonprofit work, she’s pushing herself to excel in parasports.”

She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad Just Before Giving Birth. Then They Took Her Baby Away.

Shoshana Walter | The Marshall Project | September 9, 2024 | 4,138 words

” Hospitals use drug tests that return false positives from poppy seed bagels, decongestants and Zantac. Yet newborns are being taken from parents based on the results.”

40 Acres and a Lie

Alexia Fernández Campbell, April Simpson, and Pratheek Rebala | Mother Jones | June 14, 2024 | 3,550 words

“We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land—only to have it returned to their enslavers.”

Against Rereading

Oscar Schwartz | The Paris Review | September 4, 2024 | 2,292 words

“For those who do not reread, a book is like a little life. When it ends, it dies—or it lives on, imperfectly and embellished, in your memories.”

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Essays and Features

The Great Debate: Recorders vs. Notebooks

On how one narrative journalist decided never to use a tape recorder in his reporting—and why it matters.

by Longreads August 20, 2024August 16, 2024

Predator or Prey

“I still want to feel each meal, each touch, each body I absorb into mine.”

by Diana Saverin July 25, 2024July 23, 2024

Open to the Outlandish: A Conversation with Rebecca Renner

On getting that first draft down, the importance of a strong editor, and how a story evolves from pitch to publication.

by Longreads July 23, 2024July 19, 2024

How to Run 314 Miles After a Traumatic Brain Injury

After a horrific accident, doctors told Todd Barcelona that he’d likely never race again. So he and his wife decided to run farther than they ever had before.

by Longreads July 9, 2024August 1, 2024