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Latest Essays and Features

Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Featuring stories by John Woodrow Cox, Justin Sayles, Aryn Baker, Moran Barkai and Paul Tullis, and Russell Cobb and Sarah Brandvold.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

This week we are featuring stories from Robert Sanchez, Amos Barshad, Mark Dent, Zoya Teirstein, and Caity Weaver.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Nicholas Hune-Brown, Nick Sturm, Samanth Subramanian, Kristin Idaszak, and Sy Safransky.

Editors’ Picks

The School for Wildlife Traffickers

Rachel Nuwer | 1843 Magazine | October 16, 2025 | 4,302 words

“Chinese criminals are recruiting Malawian orphans into the ivory trade.”

Hidden in Plain Sight

Carolyn Ariella Sofia | Aeon | October 20, 2025 | 4,000 words

“Jewish children who were ‘hidden’ in Christian families during the Holocaust have much to teach us about memory and trauma.”

The Shadow President

Andy Kroll | Pro Publica | October 17, 2025 | 7,833 words

“From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent…

Second and Long

Steve Yarbrough | The American Scholar | October 9, 2025 | 6,030 words

“Why did James Whitehead—poet, fiction writer, and onetime college football player—fail to complete a successor to his celebrated first novel?”

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Essays and Features

Uncanny Testimony

As the last Holocaust survivors approach the end of their lives, an AI scholar grapples with technology that promises to freeze them in time.

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Reading Lists

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All of our year-end lists, since 2011.

Favorite stories from across the web, picked by Longreads staff, guest curators, and readers.