The Story of Harvey Prager, the Last Great Weed Smuggler
Before the cartels took over, Harvey Prager built a life on millions of dollars of drug money. A prosecutor called him “the last of the amateurs."
goodreads
What Working as a Mailman in Appalachia Revealed About Public Service
A new book describes the challenges and joys of life as a letter carrier.
Electronic Texts of H.P. Lovecraft's Works
Bad Lunch | The Sun Magazine
I’d come to think of being a chef on a yacht as a kind of psycho-spiritual quest, like Homer’s Odyssey, only instead of tumultuous seas and six-headed monsters, our challenges were wealthy clients who arrived by private jet with Louis Vuitton purses on their arms.
National Magazine Awards 2026 Nominations
The best writing of 2025 as chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors
Saving The Life We Cannot See
Conservation has traditionally ignored the planet's smallest life forms. Microbiologists are trying to change that — before it's too late. Microbes make life on Earth possible, yet human activity is wiping these microbiomes out — and science is only beginning to grasp the…
When Coyotes Threatened Livestock on Central Texas Ranches, the Solution Was to Unlock an Ancient Ability in Dogs
Killing the predators is not nearly as effective as the intimidating presence of well-trained guardians, a role some breeds have played for 5,000 years
Vigilantes at Dawn - Longreads
A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.
The ‘Godmother’ of Weed vs. Her Uncle, the DEA Agent | THE CITY — NYC News
Cannabis officials courted a rising pot star to join New York’s legal market. Then a stunning police raid upended everything and shattered her family.
The House That Dizzy Built—And the City That Kept It - KOLUMN Magazine
Hidden behind Georgetown storefronts, a candlelit room has spent 60 years turning dinner service into American music history—and fighting to keep the lights on
When Hannibal Lecter Took Over - Longreads
With "The Silence of the Lambs" hitting theaters, Orion wanted a hit. They didn't anticipate an antihero.
Forty years in the Siberian wilderness: the Old Believers who time forgot
The long read: In 1978, Soviet scientists stumbled upon a family living in a remote part of Russia. They hadn’t interacted with outsiders for decades. Almost half a century later, one of them is still there
The extraordinary story of a soccer coach, a kidnapping and a Saudi job that didn’t exist
Adrian Heath was duped into thinking he was on the verge of a new job – only to be held at knifepoint in Morocco. Turns out he's not alone
Why Satyendra Nath Bose was more than Einstein’s sidekick | Aeon Essays
The life of Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose illuminates how scientific genius can emerge from the most unexpected quarters
The Backcountry Rescue Squad at America’s Busiest National Park
In the Great Smoky Mountains, an auxiliary team of élite outdoorsmen answers the call when park-goers’ hikes, climbs, and rafting adventures go wrong, Paige Williams writes.
The Worst Shot Ever Taken - Believer Magazine
I was sixteen when my mother gifted me a painting by Ernie Barnes. I’d seen one Barnes painting at that point on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album, I Want You, on the brown carpeted floor of my Auntie Sue’s apartment. Then I saw it five days a week for at least a decade…
George Bell Served 24 Years in Prison for a Crime He Didn’t Commit. Now He’s Learning to Live Again.
After a quarter century behind bars, he was exonerated for the 1996 crime and received the largest payout ever from New York City. But money can’t buy back all that time.
The Electric Typewriter
Great articles and essays by the world's best journalists and writers.
Balthazar, 1997 by Heather Bursch
December 11, 2025 – “I’d been working at Balthazar for a few months when Debra pulled me aside to tell me they knew I’d lied on my resume. Was I fired?”
Unmasking “Rex Feral,” Author of the Infamous Hit Man Manual
A 1983 book inspired a triple murder and led to a major First Amendment case. Its until-now anonymous author is a 77-year-old great-grandmother wrestling with decades of guilt.
How Willie Nelson Sees America
On the road with the musician, his band, and his family.
Noema's Top 10 Reads Of 2025
Our best longform journalism and essays from 2025.
Best of 2025: Our Most Popular Originals of the Year - Longreads
Our 10 most-read Longreads essays of 2025.
The curious life and lonely death of an American in Kabul
Jeff Rigsby moved back to Afghanistan after the US withdrawal with a self-imposed mission to save lives and inform millions.
The Blue Book Burglar
The 'Social Register' was a who’s who of America’s rich and powerful—the heirs of robber barons, scions of political dynasties, and descendants of 'Mayflower' passengers. It was also the perfect hit list for the country’s hardest-working art thief.
A Liver on Ice
How a liver goes from a brain-dead donor to a living recipient.
Note: liver transplants
Museum of Color
From ochre to lapis lazuli, Stephanie Krzywonos opens a door into the entangled histories of our most iconic pigments, revealing how colors hold stories of both lightness and darkness.
A Deaf Galveston Lifeguard Saved Hundreds. His Legacy Is Complicated.
LeRoy Colombo was a champion swimmer, and even landed in the Guinness Book of World Records. But there's more to his story.
The Worst Air Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
"In the early days of flight, airships were hailed as the future of war. Then disaster struck the USS Akron."
God Dog | Mina Tavakoli
BLACK RUSSIAN TERRIER, read the chyron on Madison Square Garden’s GardenVision video display. Beneath: THEIR ONLY COLOR IS BLACK.
She Vanished on a Colorado Mountain. 19 Years Later, a Mysterious Dream Helped Rescuers Find Her.
Michelle Vanek disappeared on Mt. of the Holy Cross in 2005, setting off the largest search for a missing hiker in state history. The trail went cold—until an all-women team reopened the case.
Greyhound - Orion Magazine
Geography, capitalism, and America by bus
Hot Dog University
Hot Dog University in Chicago trains entrepreneurs to master the Chicago-style hot dog. From Vienna Beef traditions to food cart businesses nationwide, Hot Dog U graduates are proving the American dream is still alive — one hot dog stand at a time.
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s
Patrick Drahi made a fortune through debt-fuelled telecommunications companies, Sam Knight writes. Now he’s bringing his methods to the art market.
The Software Tycoon Scaling AI Education to a Billion Kids
As an elementary school principal, a feared software tycoon, a genial recluse, and a technology zealot determined to redefine childhood for mankind, J
There is always an instrument invention that causes the inflection of a science,
The Quest to Cure Progeria Is a Quest to Slow Aging
One of the world’s rarest diseases makes people grow old prematurely. Scientists think that gene-editing can stop it, Dhruv Khullar writes.
Whiteouts, Ice Roads, and Wolverines: What Working at a Diamond Mine in the Far North Is Like | The Walrus
In minus forty, even a twisted ankle can turn deadly if no one knows where to find you
One Day—and One Night—in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen
From 2000: “The people who will be coming tonight and tomorrow night to Les Halles, a restaurant on Park Avenue South where I work as the chef, aren’t like the people who come during the week,” Anthony Bourdain writes.
Opinion | Christo Grozev Is the Man Putin Couldn’t Kill
Putin had Christo Grozev in his sights. Grozev was way ahead of him.
The 2020 Commencement Speech You’ll Never Hear
The 2020 commencement speech you’ll never hear
The Ballad of Bill Fox
Robert Pollard adores him. Jeff Tweedy calls him a hero. But he’s just wanted to be left alone — until now.
Dolly Parton’s Quietly Inspiring Defense of Marriage
The death of Parton’s husband, in March, called rare attention to a steadfast union that the fame-friendly country star had kept private for decades.
The Hobo Handbook by Jeremiah David
May 9, 2025 – “The Guide is either the train hopper’s Bible or an outdated relic, a must-have or a crutch, depending on whom you ask.”
Trial by Fire: The crash of Aeroflot flight 1492
Six years after 41 people died aboard a Sukhoi Superjet on a Moscow runway, the full story of that horrible day can finally be told.
Classic Articles that Became Films
A huge collection of cinematic nonfiction
My Favorite Restaurant Served Gas — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
With the arrival of Thank You Please Come Again, our new book by Kate Medley, we present its opening essay.
Mike Piazza Is Alive and Well and Living in Italy
The candid Mets legend reflects on his Cinderella career and indelible place in the pop-culture pantheon.
The Longest Night
One Easter Sunday, the Alaska Ranger—a fishing boat out of Dutch Harbor—went down in the Bering Sea, 6,000 feet deep and thirty-two degrees cold. Forty-seven people were on board, and nearly half of them would spend hours floating alone in the darkness, in water so frigid it can…
The Congo’s Dinosaur of Discord
Once a subject of Victorian fascination, the mokele-mbembe myth is now fodder for creationists on a quest to disprove Darwinism
To Steal a Whale Bone
"There’s something about the thrill of discovery that can make a person believe what they’ve found is theirs now—to claim, to guard, to name."