The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

An investigation into a heinous (and lurid) crime. A look at the spirited world of competitive cheer. A visit to the world’s creepiest motel. An empathic eye on assisted dying. And the true planetary cost…

Inside Man

Gary Settle has helped dozens of federal prisoners get compassionate release. Will it ever be his turn to go home?

Editors’ Picks

A Star Reporter’s Break With Reality

Elaina Plott Calabro | The Atlantic | June 12, 2023 | 6,904 words

“Lara Logan was once a respected 60 Minutes correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. What happened?”

My Father’s Ghost and the Chelsea Hotel

Amanda Chemeche | Harper’s Bazaar | June 7, 2023| 1,800 words

“During a childhood spent in the famed Chelsea Hotel, Amanda Chemeche learned about life, loss, and the power of art.”

Escaping China with a Spoon and a Rusty Nail

Hashim Mohammed and Isobel Cockerell | Coda Story | June 5, 2023 | 2,178 words

“I never imagined that I would stay there for three years and eight months, from the ages of 16 to 19.”

The Enigmatic Method

Meg Bernhard | VQR | June 12, 2023 | 6,923 words

“Is EMDR a psychotherapeutic breakthrough, pseudoscience, or a little bit of both?”

Have You Been to the Library Lately?

Nicholas Hune-Brown | The Walrus | June 12, 2023 | 5,333 words

“Librarians once worried about shushing patrons. Now they have to deal with mental health episodes, the homelessness crisis, and random violence.”

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Essays and Features

Cocooning

“Every testimony, every coming-out story, attempts a transformation of life. But narration is not life itself, exactly, or its transformation; it is a cocooning.”

Girl Genius

She will grow up and leave me and yet never leave me; she will be mine forever, a being I shaped.

The Buddy System

There is nothing quite like it. Surfing is a way of being connected to a deeper deep, an older old.

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Reading Lists

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Our year-end collection

All the top #longreads of 2022, selected by our editors, featured authors, and readers.