New and classic longform journalism, picked daily
The Guardian: The Long Read·Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Essays
Tribute artists aboard a cruise ship navigate the art of impersonation, each channeling their chosen celebrity with ritualistic devotion.
“I joined Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, Ozzy Osbourne and other tribute artists on a cruise where imitation is its own art form”
Esquire·Maxwell Losgar·Profiles
A magazine editor and his garbageman father share a final season of sorting through possessions, poker chips, and a lifetime of difference.
“My dad delivered life lessons in a thick New York accent, with a lit cigarette permanently welded to his lower lip. Every sentence punctuated with a curse word and flying ash. He was tall and lanky, with a purposeful stride and darting brown eyes that missed very little.”
Aeon·Peter A Coclanis·World
Singapore pursues water security through ruthless efficiency while wrestling with food self-sufficiency, revealing the limits of engineering abundance.
“In May 2010, I was invited to Brunei to give two lectures on agriculture. At the time, the government there had just launched a plan to become more self-sufficient in rice production to promote greater ‘food security’ – a goal Brunei still holds today, along with greater ‘sustainability’. After one of my lectures, I was asked by a journalist what …”
ProPublica·Richard A. Webster and Kathleen Flynn·Crime
After twenty-seven years on death row, a wrongfully convicted man confronts what freedom actually means.
“Jimmie “Chris” Duncan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he assessed his temporary home from the parking lot of a rundown motel in central Louisiana. Sure, there’s drug dealing and prostitution, he said on a recent summer afternoon. And he suspected his neighbors were cooking meth on a floor below the room he paid $350 a week to rent.”
Texas Monthly·Carrie Arnold·Science
Doctors in Texas confront a mysterious kidney disease striking young laborers from Central America, linked to heat and a warming planet.
“Some staggered through the hospital’s doors, arriving at all hours of day and night. Others were wheeled in on gurneys, their bodies having given out before they could reach the emergency department. Many had collapsed at work—while painting houses, stapling shingles, or paving roads. All had been born in Mexico or Central America, and most complained of a crushing fatigue …”
The New Yorker·Emily Witt·World
Minneapolis residents mobilize to monitor federal immigration agents during a mass deportation campaign.
“Michael Cavlan had settled into a routine of patrolling his neighborhood by car most mornings when, early on January 7th, he received an alert on his phone informing him about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity near his house in Powderhorn, in South Minneapolis. The previous day, the Department of Homeland Security had announced that it was sending two thousand immigration …”
The New York Times Magazine·Kwame Anthony Appiah·Essays
A philosophy column examines the ethics of social exclusion when one member's pace slows the group's pleasure.
The New Yorker·M. R. O’Connor·Sports
Smokejumpers parachute into remote American wilderness to fight wildfires from the ground in terrain few others can reach.
“During summer in parts of Alaska, the sun shines for more than two months straight. The endless days are punctuated by the appearance of gigantic thunderheads that, many afternoons, seem to boil up into the sky. They often bring torrents of rain and bolts of lightning that ignite fires. Fort Wainwright, a U.S. Army facility in Fairbanks, Alaska, houses about …”
The New York Times Magazine·Jon Ronson·Profiles
A YouTube lawn care influencer's rise and fall reveals how platform algorithms can warp a creator's judgment and audience.
The Atlantic·Nancy Walecki·Essays
At an adult summer camp in the Poconos, four hundred women of wildly different ages attempt to manufacture the unselfconscious intimacy of childhood.
“At Camp Social, where grown women return to girlhood, friendship has no preamble. Within 15 minutes of meeting eight of the campers from Cabin 3, I learned this: In their 50s and 60s, they have no use for the menstrual discs in the camp swag bag; one of them found online dating so depressing after her divorce that she’s given …”
The New York Times Magazine·Sophie Haigney·Essays
The word 'cult' has drifted from religious sects to describe passionate fan communities, reflecting how we worship brands and celebrities.
The New York Times Magazine·Kwame Anthony Appiah·Essays
A philosophy column becomes a marriage crisis: can you intervene when someone you love refuses to see the problem.
The New York Times Magazine·Lulu Garcia-Navarro·Profiles
At seventy-eight, Ina Garten has built a life around precision, restraint, and knowing exactly what she wants from it.
The Guardian: The Long Read·Ellie Bury, Giles Tremlett, Nicola Alexandrou·World
A nine-year-old girl kidnapped from Spain resurfaces in the Bolivian rainforest nine months later, but her ordeal has only begun.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
Noema·John Arquilla·Politics
America's high-tech bombing campaign in Iran kills civilians and schools while an AI system meant to prevent such tragedies becomes the scapegoat.
“John Arquilla is a long-time defense analyst and author of “The Troubled American Way of War” (Polity, 2026).”
ProPublica·Mario Ariza, Hannah Beckler, Libby Seline, and Chris Alcantara·Crime
Immigration officials use repeated jail bookings to skirt federal detention limits, trapping vulnerable immigrants in cycles of release and recapture.
“Every third morning Soumia Bensalah was roused before the break of dawn. Pulled from her cell, shackled hand and foot, she was herded onto a bus and driven over Tampa Bay from the Pinellas County Jail to a cramped hold room at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.”
The New York Times Magazine·Susan Dominus·Arts
Dolly Parton's 1980 film transformed feminism from a polarizing movement into something mainstream America could embrace and celebrate.
The Atlantic·Annie Lowrey·Essays
A single mother navigating the maze of benefits bureaucracy discovers how the administrative burden of poverty compounds the financial strain.
“Marcella Patino was hunched over a table at the South Salt Lake Community Center, her pizza getting cold and her nerves fraying. Patino is a single mom with three kids, and kidlike in her own way, tiny and sweet-voiced. When I met her, in the summer of 2024, she was 33 years old and earning $300 a week doing manicures …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·James Crawford·Science
Norway's tallest wooden skyscraper points toward a radical reimagining of urban construction, trading concrete's extraction and emissions for timber.
“I travelled to Oslo in the early autumn. It felt like arriving into the future. Or, at least, a fragment of a possible future. I drove north in the quiet digital bubble of my electric rental car. In 2024, Norway became the first country in the world where electric cars outnumbered petrol cars.”
The Atlantic·Sebastian Smee·Profiles
Milton Avery's influence on Mark Rothko runs deeper than the standard mentorship narrative suggests, shaped by their summers together on Cape Ann.
“The evolution of European modern art can be explained as a story of susceptible young people falling under others’ spells and then asking, What can I do with this? How can I convert it to my purposes?”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Ellie Bury, Nicola Alexandrou·World
Scholars are reversing centuries of assumptions about the Maya civilization, asking not why it collapsed but how it endured.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
The New York Times Magazine·Sophie Haigney·Essays
A coffee chain's experimental drinks offer an unlikely window into how attention and meaning function in the modern economy.
The Atavist Magazine·Matthew Wolfe·Crime
An Austrian man orchestrated his country's largest armed robbery to finance an orphanage, with his friend's mistress alongside him.
Vanity Fair·Christopher Cox·Profiles
A reporter visits the author of the bestselling money manual to understand how the guru accumulated $1.2 billion in debt.
“Robert Kiyosaki says he’s more than a billion dollars in debt. Didn’t he read his own book?”
Noema·Jess McHugh·Crime
A murder case traces how a technical manual on contract killing became evidence in court, raising questions about speech and responsibility.
“Jess McHugh is an author and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and TIME, among others. Her second nonfiction book, “Beg, Borrow, Scam,” is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.”
The New Yorker·Andrew Marantz·Politics
A Palestinian refugee and Columbia student faces deportation after his political activism draws the Trump administration's attention.
“It may or may not be true that all happy families are alike, but it’s certainly true that any married couple with a car, happy or unhappy, must at some point decide who will do the driving. For Mahmoud Khalil and his wife, Noor Abdalla, this was not a difficult decision. Khalil, who is thirty-one, spent his youth in a …”
Vanity Fair·Sylvia Varnham O’Regan·Business
A Google cofounder and wellness influencer shift their political allegiances, signaling Silicon Valley's rightward drift.
“Once Democrat supporters, Google cofounder Brin and his girlfriend, wellness influencer Gerelyn Soto, have dined with Donald Trump and backed conservative candidates in California, including former Fox News host Steve Hilton and reality TV star Spencer Pratt, underscoring Silicon Valley’s growing foothold in right-wing politics.”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Oliver Bullough·Crime
Post offices have become central to Britain's money system, and organized criminals are exploiting that infrastructure to launder hundreds of millions in dirty cash.
“Leicestershire police won’t say who first told them about Jigar Gheewala, but you can see why, once they had heard of him, they decided to find out more. Gheewala was unemployed, had no apparent income, yet lived in a £1.3m house and sent his three children to private school. “He was a declared bankrupt, with a bank account that was …”
ProPublica·Audrey Dutton·Crime
Idaho's faith-healing exemptions have allowed children in a secretive sect to die from treatable illnesses while the state looks the other way.
“A sheriff’s deputy opens the door of an Idaho farmhouse where a newborn baby has just died. It’s almost 10 p.m., but the house is filled with adults and children seated anywhere they can find a spot: in reclining chairs, on the wood-stove hearth, on a chest of drawers. Some of the women hold babies in their laps.”
The Intercept·Aura Bogado·Politics
Illinois police circumvent state sanctuary law by exploiting federal alerts to help ICE deport undocumented immigrants.
“This story was reported and produced by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the court system. Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter.”
The Atlantic·Shane Harris·Politics
Trump coveted a $400 million Qatari airplane, and Qatar thought they understood the deal they were making with him.
“Donald Trump really wanted the plane. The Qataris had flown the $400 million Boeing 747 to West Palm Beach just after he returned to the White House so he could run his hands over the soft leather chairs and inspect the sycamore- and wacapou-wood veneers. A sales brochure had described the en-suite master bathroom, with its mother-of-pearl inlays, as “almost …”
Texas Monthly·Robyn Ross·Politics
A military base's essential nighttime training becomes impossible as sprawling development floods the Texas darkness with artificial light.
“The wounded soldier was lying in the middle of a clearing, but in the dark of the moonless night, Richard King almost tripped over him. “Here,” he yelled to his squad as they followed in a low run, their movements intermittently illuminated by the flash of artillery fire. It was almost midnight, but the August heat clung to the cedar-covered …”
Wired·Aura Bogado·Crime
Illinois prosecutors secretly fed immigration agents personal data on defendants, circumventing sanctuary protections and leaving deportation in their wake.
“This story was produced in partnership with Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago focused on the court system.”
The New Yorker·Rachel Aviv·Profiles
A Nobel laureate brought children from Papua New Guinea to America to study disease, but his real experiment was on the children themselves.
“Every weekday morning, Luwi Ikabala sets up a sewing machine beside piles of sweet potatoes and firewood at the main market in Goroka, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Luwi uses a yellow cooking-oil cannister for a chair. On a good day, he makes enough money from hemming sleeves and mending torn clothes to buy a bag of rice. …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Charlotte Higgins, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Essays
A writer studies Ukrainian language as war reshapes the country, discovering what displacement teaches about identity and belonging.
“Soon after my first visit to Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected”
GQ·Jon Ronson, Bruce Gilden·Politics
Jon Ronson witnesses a UFC event at the White House and explores what the spectacle reveals about American politics and masculinity.
“The heavyweight MMA fighter Josh Hokit is flailing badly, sweating and in pain. His UFC cage fight on the White House South Lawn is still four days away, but here onstage at Media Day, in the somewhat gloomy basement ballroom level of the JW Marriott, the pressure is on. It’s because he has, for some reason, chosen to do a …”
The New York Times Magazine·Ruth Franklin·Essays
Ruth Franklin travels the country to examine whether Mark Twain's novel still belongs in American classrooms and how teachers navigate its complexities.
The Marshall Project·Jesse Bogan·Crime
A vulnerable man cycles through a Missouri jail system that treats him as a criminal rather than as someone desperately needing psychiatric care.
“LIBERTY, Mo. — Fresh out of jail in New York, Carl Henry Louis jumped on a bus, yearning to see a world beyond the Big Apple and his past. During his journey, he lived on the streets, taking odd jobs, sometimes getting into trouble, even serving time behind bars again. But he always found his way back on the road.”
ProPublica·Amy Yurkanin·Science
A prominent Tennessee researcher's celebrated study on pregnant opioid users crumbles under scrutiny from addiction experts and university auditors.
“When Dr. Craig Towers moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2010, the high-risk obstetrician encountered a crisis unlike anything he’d seen.”
Vanity Fair·Chris Murphy·Arts
The actor chats with Vanity Fair about his Emmy-nominated series 'Bait,' whether he’s scuttled his chances of being cast as the next James Bond, and how he learned to own his name.
“The actor chats with Vanity Fair about his Emmy-nominated series Bait, whether he’s scuttled his chances of being cast as the next James Bond, and how he learned to own his name.”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Stuart McGurk, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Crime
Criminal gangs steal millions in cargo from British lorries each year while one investigator works to understand how they operate with such impunity.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
The New Yorker·Eric Klinenberg·Science
As extreme heat overwhelms the Continent’s great cities, they are racing to adapt to a climate that they were never built to withstand.
“In late May, Jannik Sinner, the world’s top-ranked men’s-tennis player, was closing out a dominant second-round performance against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, ranked fifty-sixth, at Roland Garros. The French Open, as English speakers tend to call it, takes place during a traditionally splendid time of the year, when Parisians delight in the temperate air.”
Vanity Fair·Daria Egidi·Profiles
In Rome during the summer of 1952, a young Audrey Hepburn arrives to film Roman Holiday, beginning a transformation that would reshape her life.
“In 1952, Audrey Hepburn arrived in Rome as a relative unknown to film Roman Holiday, setting in motion a career that would make her an icon.”
The Atlantic·Robert Kagan·World
Iran has weathered military assault from the superpower and Israel, emerging to reshape the Middle East's power structure in its favor.
“For years, Iran confronted a balance of power in the Middle East that tilted against it. The region was dominated by a hostile American superpower, a nuclear-armed and militarily superior Israel, and significant local actors—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates—that were strategically and economically aligned with the United States.”
The New York Times Magazine·Susan Dominus·Profiles
A German actress investigates a shadowy impersonator sending explicit material in her name, uncovering a mystery that becomes a feminist reckoning.
The Intercept·John Feffer·World
The United States and China compete for dominance through asymmetrical power: America controls advanced chips, China controls the world's critical minerals.
“Take Godzilla, for instance. Thanks to U.S. atomic testing in the Pacific, the dinosaur-like sea creature has explosive, radioactive breath that can destroy everything in its path. His archenemy Rodan, meanwhile, is a pterodactyl-like bird that can fly at supersonic speeds, a skill useful in avoiding atomic bad breath. Since the 1960s, the two giant monsters have duked it out …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Andy Beckett, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Politics
Paul Dacre built the Daily Mail into a machine for selling readers anger, and his disciples now run most of British newspapers.
“At the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre broke new ground in selling readers an angry rightwing perspective. Today, most of Fleet Street is run by his disciples”
The New Yorker·Rachel Monroe·Essays
A writer searches for genuine patriotic fun amid the chaos, infighting, and Bitcoin conferences of America's 250th birthday.
“Was it possible to have a genuinely good, patriotic time this Semiquincentennial summer? I was determined to find out. A decade ago, Congress set up a bipartisan commission, America250, and asked it to “plan, encourage, develop, and coordinate the commemoration of the history of the United States leading up to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.” …”
Noema·Daniel Freeman·Science
A neuroscientist at MIT pursues the neural basis of consciousness through transcranial ultrasound and AI, chasing what may be science's most consequential discovery.
“Daniel Freeman is a scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory developing transcranial ultrasound and AI methods to identify the neural basis of conscious experience. He is also helping to build an interdisciplinary consciousness research initiative at MIT.”
The Atlantic·Quinta Jurecic, Marie-Rose Sheinerman·Politics
Washington, D.C., has grown accustomed to armed troops patrolling its streets, a deployment with unclear purpose and a billion-dollar price tag.
“The sight of military troops patrolling in a peaceful American city would once have been strange, if not outright alarming. But since last August, when Donald Trump first deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., residents have become accustomed to seeing men and women in camouflage military fatigues on duty throughout the city and its public-transit system. Sometimes, they trail …”
Vanity Fair·Nate Freeman·Arts
A sculptor's sealed studio on Shelter Island opens its doors for the first time since his death, revealing decades of monumental work.
“John Chamberlain’s studio by the sea has been closed to the public since his death in 2011. With his centenary approaching next year, we got a private tour—before a slew of Hamptons A-listers arrived for dinner.”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Adam Kirsch·Science
Fermi's famous question lingers: given the universe's age and size, why have we found no trace of alien life?
“During a visit to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1950, Enrico Fermi, one of the architects of the Manhattan Project, was having lunch with other physicists when the conversation turned to flying saucers. At one point during the discussion, Fermi blurted out: “Where is everybody?” – or, as another participant remembered it, “Don’t you ever wonder where everybody is?” …”
The Intercept·The Intercept Briefing·World
Three American physicians volunteer in Gaza to provide emergency care amid bombardment and insufficient supplies.
“It’s been nearly three years into Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians, and still no step closer to its end. Since the latest “ceasefire” began in October 2025, Israel has continued to bombard Gaza and has killed more than 1,200 people, United Nations experts reported earlier this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more recently rejected President Donald Trump’s Board of …”
Noema·Albert Yuan·Essays
As AI systems make decisions, philosophy grapples with what free will means and who bears responsibility for algorithmic choices.
“Albert Yuan is a science reporter at San Lian Lifeweek, one of China’s leading news and lifestyle magazines, where this essay was originally published in Chinese.”
n+1·Alan Dean·Sports
The NBA draft lottery rewards losing teams with top picks, but new rules will soon end the practice—and this year's lottery champions know it.
“This June, in Manhattan, they had a parade for the winners in the world—later in the month, in Brooklyn, an event for those who lose. But not all losers are alike: the NBA draft lottery uses weighted odds determined by last season’s record, meaning that some teams—the Washington Wizards, the Utah Jazz—have in a sense won, converting their losses during …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Kieran Morris, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Profiles
A chef rebuilds after fire destroys his life's work, traveling through Japan to reconnect with the people who shaped his rise.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
Classic·The New Yorker·Malcolm Gladwell·2006
Cesar Millan can calm almost any dog with a touch. The harder question is what the dog sees in him.
“In the case of Sugar v. Forman, Cesar Millan knew none of the facts before arriving at the scene of the crime. That is the way Cesar prefers it. His job was to reconcile Forman with Sugar, and, since Sugar was a good deal less adept in making her case than Forman, whatever he learned beforehand might bias him in …”
Vanity Fair·Marisa Meltzer·Arts
François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne transform brass and bronze into surreal furniture as billionaires compete to acquire their fantastical menageries.
“Throughout the 1970s, François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne created fantastical pieces of furniture—life-size hippo wet bars, flocks of cement sheep— that are currently conquering the art market. As billionaires fixate on acquiring whole menageries, can Lalanne keep the magic?”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Shaun Walker·Crime
A bomb-making kit arrives at a Russian activist's door in Poland, triggering questions about allegiance and whether a young opposition campaigner has been working for the Kremlin all along.
“The police came for Igor Rogov because someone had mailed him a bomb-making kit. The eclectic mix of items – a chrome vacuum flask, a pair of marker pens, a power bank and a bottle of antifreeze fluid – might have seemed innocuous to an untrained eye, but Poland was on high alert in July 2024. Two months previously, a …”
The New York Times Magazine·Willy Staley·Essays
Americans profess to despise surveillance cameras in their neighborhoods, yet they remain transfixed by the footage they capture.
Aeon·Sarah Berg·Essays
Women trained since childhood to restrict appetite live with a constant cognitive toll as hunger persists beneath their daily thoughts.
“Here is something we have never quite said out loud: for a significant portion of the world’s women, hunger is not a temporary state. It is a cognitive condition. It flows beneath everything: the meeting, the conversation, the stream of thought that almost ran its course before something more insistent pulled it back. For many of us, the state of …”
Vanity Fair·Aidan McLaughlin·Politics
Inside the White House press office, staffers toggle between public belligerence and private professionalism as leadership shifts and uncertainty looms.
“In public, White House press office staff are belligerent toward members of the media, hurling insults and invective. But in private? They’re cordial, efficient…even charming. Reporters fear what's next.”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Ellie Bury, Dan Fox, Nicola Alexandrou·Essays
A son attempts to reclaim his family's Welsh language, testing whether an app can bridge what history and displacement have fractured.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
The New York Times Magazine·Benjamin Wallace·Science
Alpha-gal syndrome spreads across America as tick populations boom, leaving scientists and patients searching for answers in an expanding health crisis.
Aeon·Azania Imtiaz Patel·Essays
A pilgrim arrives in Mecca seeking spiritual renewal and finds instead a glittering mall, confronting the gap between imagination and reality.
“It is Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, and I am sitting in a rooftop café in Mecca, the holiest city of the religion. The sun has gone down, and an array of glittering shops and hotels lights up the urban expanse below me. At the heart of this ancient city, the foremost site of Muslim worship, guarded …”
Classic·Wired·Neal Stephenson·1996
Neal Stephenson follows the laying of the longest wire on Earth.
“In which the hacker tourist ventures forth across the wide and wondrous meatspace of three continents, acquainting himself with the customs and dialects of the exotic Manhole Villagers of Thailand, the U-Turn Tunnelers of the Nile Delta, the Cable Nomads of Lan tao Island, the Slack Control Wizards of Chelmsford, the Subterranean Ex-Telegraphers of Cornwall, and other previously unknown and …”
ProPublica·Molly Hensley-Clancy and Sarah Blesener·Crime
A Texas volleyball coach banned for sexual misconduct with a minor continues coaching as sports organizations fail to enforce the ban.
“The first time Ryan Richardson was suspended from coaching volleyball, in early 2024, he gathered the parents of his teenage players in the back room of his gym in the border city of Pharr, Texas. It was a dark, cool space, one wall lined with shelves of trophies and dangling medals. The tinted windows looked out onto the courts where …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Meaghan Beatley·World
An Argentine woman discovers her father's hidden past during the country's dictatorship, upending everything she believed about her family.
“As a child, Analía Azic used to pretend she was secretly a princess, the heiress to a magical distant kingdom. In real life, she was the daughter of a greengrocer named Juan Antonio Azic and a demure housewife named Esther Abrego. The family lived in the province of Buenos Aires, which, as anyone from the area will tell you with …”
GQ·Daniel Riley, Beth Sacca·Business
Three restaurateurs build a hospitality empire across continents, blending haute cuisine with nightclub spectacle and private clubs.
“On a swaying-palms kind of night in January, I hopped into the back seat of Jeff Zalaznick’s Range Rover to accompany him on his evening rounds to seven of Major Food Group’s major Miami restaurants. Jeff, a born-and-raised New Yorker, had relocated to Miami at the start of the pandemic and instantly proved himself to be such a distracted driver—talking …”
Aeon·Eliran Arazi·Essays
An anthropologist learns why the Andoque people of the Amazon regard river dolphins not as prey but as something far more complicated.
“‘A nasty one, the dolphin,’ Derode grumbled when he returned home, trading the humid heat of an Amazonian afternoon for the cool, sheltered interior. Inside, his wife Rosa and I shot hungry looks at his empty hands. Once again, the Caquetá River surrendered no fish. I was only two weeks into my fieldwork with the Andoque people in southern Colombia …”
Texas Monthly·José R. Ralat·Profiles
A celebrated Houston chef's James Beard Award should cement his place in American cuisine, but his DACA status remains an uncertain shadow.
“Adrian Torres was at breakfast when his life changed. The 27-year-old chef sat at a floral-print oilcloth-covered table at Puebla Mexican Kitchen—one of his favorite restaurants, in Houston’s Heights neighborhood—surrounded by his fiancée and friends, all waiting to hear the news. The group shed their morning grogginess with plates of saucy enchiladas, salsa-lacquered chilaquiles, and migas, featuring soft tumbles of …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Ellie Bury, Rebecca Liu, Nicola Alexandrou·Essays
The tiger mom stereotype dominates popular culture with striking consistency, but its origins and staying power reveal something more complex about identity.
“Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.”
Aeon·Ella Browning·Science
A scientist discovers that earthworms produce sounds, offering a new way to listen to the hidden life beneath our feet.
“Earthworms do not have a discernible mouth, a means to make sound, or ears, and most spend their lives burrowing below ground, eating soil and decaying organic matter. However, their behaviours produce sounds, which can reveal a surprising amount about the subterranean world in which they live. I’ve recently found myself leaning over a box of soil in the basement …”
Classic·The Atlantic·Ta-Nehisi Coates·2014
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. An argument about what is owed.
“We’ve gathered dozens of the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America. Find the collection here.”
Aeon·Consuelo Araos·World
In Santiago's self-built neighborhoods, families construct homes that remain forever incomplete, precarious spaces caught between shelter and becoming.
“Few problems feel more pressing today than housing. Across the world, access to affordable, stable, dignified housing has become one of the defining challenges of our time, in wealthy capitals and struggling peripheries alike. According to UN-Habitat, more than 2.8 billion people – roughly 35 per cent of the global population – lack access to adequate housing. Rents rise faster …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Jill Lepore·Essays
Jill Lepore traces how early technologists foresaw the threat of machines to democratic society, and why their warnings went unheeded.
“One of the stranger things about this dizzying, headlong moment in time is that it doesn’t have much of a past. Everything is about the future of this, the future of that: the future of work, the future of humanity, the future of the planet. It’s as if everyone is screaming (some ecstatically, most terror-stricken): robots are taking over the …”
n+1·Joshua Judd Porter·Sports
As the NHL pursues growth and mainstream legitimacy, its most devoted fans and players resist the cultural change required to get there.
“Much has been made in the world of hockey—North America’s most marginal, insular, and socially retrograde big-league sport—of the need to “grow the game.” Far more dependent on gate revenue than its direct competitors, the NHL means “grow” literally: The league is laying endless sheets of concrete, soon to be topped with smoothly Zambonied layers of ice, across the Sunbelt …”
The Intercept·Peiman Salehi, Nick Turse·World
A newborn in Tehran survives only twenty days before U.S. strikes kill him, his grandmother bearing witness to his brief life during wartime.
“Mohammad Ali Kialha’s first hours were all he knew of peace. He was born on February 26 in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Two days later, President Donald Trump began his war on that country. “Bombs will be dropping everywhere,” Trump wrote on social media on February 28.”
The New York Times Magazine·Christopher Cox·Science
Thousands of aging, hand-built transformers hold the American power grid together, and their failure could plunge the nation into years of darkness.
Aeon·Geertje Bol·Essays
Early feminists like Mary Astell refused politeness in debate, adopting zealotry as a tool against male dismissal.
“In 1706, an English woman visited her friend, Katherine. Katherine’s husband, Francis Atterbury, was a prominent politician and bishop. Upon hearing that Francis had just finished writing his sermon, Katherine’s friend asked if she could take it home to read it. Francis graciously agreed, no doubt expecting to receive some compliments from the lady. But his sermon was promptly returned …”
The Guardian: The Long Read·Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·World
Iraq navigates the collapse of its precarious balance between Iranian and American power as regional conflict reshapes the state's fragile position.
“With the outbreak of this year’s war, Iraq’s balancing act between the two antagonists has collapsed, exposing a perilously fragile state”
The Intercept·Noah Hurowitz·Politics
Immigration officials coordinated directly with Iranian authorities to deport over a hundred nationals as the U.S. prepared military action against Tehran.
“Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents appear to have worked directly with government officials in Iran to deport over 100 Iranian nationals as the United States prepared to bomb their home country, according to a newly released trove of internal emails from ICE.”
Classic·Esquire·Tom Junod·2003
An attempt to learn the identity of the man in the most haunting photograph of September 11th.
“Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.”
Texas Monthly·Tom Foster·Business
How an Austin supplement company came to dominate the fastest-growing drink category in America — by selling one brand to men and another to their girlfriends.
“The black plastic tub of Frozen Bombsicle Ultimate Shred was taunting me again. I am not, by disposition, a gym-powder guy. I have spent most of my adult life mixing nothing more exotic into my water bottle than the water itself.”
The Atavist Magazine·Holbrook Mohr and Mitch Weiss·Politics
For decades a Kentucky uranium plant assured its workers the dust was harmless. Four friends decided to find out for themselves.
“In the isolation ward of a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, a nurse approaches Ron Fowler’s bed, cell phone extended in her hand. “You have a call,” she says. Fowler’s eyes flutter open. He tugs off his oxygen tube and, with trembling fingers, accepts the phone.”
ProPublica·Richard A. Webster·Crime
Courts threw out the conviction that kept Elvis Brooks in prison for four decades. Louisiana’s attorney general still refuses to call him innocent — or to pay.
“Elvis Brooks thought he had an airtight case when he applied for compensation from the state of Louisiana after he was wrongfully convicted in a fatal bar shooting that kept him in prison for more than four decades.”
Aeon·Rosa Campbell·Essays
Shere Hite handed out surveys from a motorbike and produced the bestseller that told American sexology what it refused to hear from women.
“In 1972, Shere Hite, a Playboy model turned feminist sex researcher, jumped on a motorbike and drove around Manhattan. With a cascade of strawberry blonde curls peeping out under the helmet, rosebud lips visible under the visor, and a vintage lace gown streaming behind her, she handed out surveys to any woman who would take one.”
Smithsonian Magazine·Ellen Wexler·Arts
A box of 300 wartime love letters, left anonymously at a USO office, sends researchers hunting for the private who signed himself Speedy.
“Louis Weber was learning how to get by in the military: How to wake in the dark morning hours and work kitchen duty until sunset. How to get the 1.5-inch-long haircut required to look the part. How to stay so busy that he wouldn’t have time to miss the life he’d left behind.”
Classic·Esquire·Gay Talese·1966
The most famous magazine profile ever written — reported entirely without the cooperation of its subject.
“Frank Sinatra, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood in a dark corner of the bar between two attractive but fading blondes who sat waiting for him to say something.”
Texas Monthly·Madison Hahamy·Crime
Michael Highfill sat in the back seat while someone else pulled the trigger. Texas’s law of parties has kept him in prison for nearly thirty years.
“He watched from the back seat, his hands gripping the sides of his head, as Rebecca Walton stuck the gun through the open car door and pointed it at the man behind the wheel, Luis “Chico” Flores.”
The Marshall Project·Brittany Hailer and Ilica Mahajan·Crime
At one of Ohio’s largest youth treatment centers, the children weren’t running toward trouble. They were running from it.
“Paitin Pahoundis jolted awake, a siren blaring in her ears. Her friend Samantha Primeau was in her room. It was time. The other girls, Samantha told her, were gone. They had jammed a sprinkler, triggering the fire alarm and filling the hallway outside with water.”
Aeon·Stephani Sutherland·Science
Allan Basbaum has spent fifty years mapping where pain begins in the nervous system — long enough to watch his field change its mind about what pain is.
“One night in 2000, Allan Basbaum was at the Pierre Hotel on Central Park, wearing a tuxedo after presenting a neuroscience award to one of his colleagues before a roomful of scientists, Nobel laureates among them.”
The Atavist Magazine·Maccabee Montandon·Essays
A writer returns to the night of his brother’s murder — and to everything his family built and buried in its aftermath.
“Mardi Gras in June. That was what the noise outside the window sounded like. A celebratory spray of firecrackers. A tack-a-tack-a-tack-a-tack-a-tack-tack midnight burst of joy.”
Classic·The New Yorker·Kathryn Schulz·2015
An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.
“When the 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Tohoku, Japan, Chris Goldfinger was two hundred miles away, in the city of Kashiwa, at an international meeting on seismology.”