In this quiet yet illuminating essay at The Yale Review, essayist Steve Edwards reflects on how an autism diagnosis changed the way he saw himself, as well as his relationship to writing. It was important to me that the last word of the longer paragraphs was farther to the righthand side of the page than the last word of the shorter paragraphs,...

In this review of the new biography, Madonna: A Rebel Life by Mary Gabriel, Joanna Biggs argues that Madonna is more than a singer, dancer, and an early champion of many causes. She’s an unapologetic artist—first, foremost, and above all else. Madonna will not be with us forever: she dances much less vigorously onstage, she needs ever-longer...

Former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher was court-martialed in 2018 on charges that he attempted to kill civilians and stabbed a teenage ISIS prisoner to death while deployed in Iraq. He was acquitted of six of the seven charges against him—for the full story of the case, listen to the incredible podcast The Line—and since then has built a brand as a culture...

Sally Montgomery takes us on a fascinating journey of self-discovery as she learns how to free dive. In pushing the limits of her physical abilities, she discovers a new identity and redefines her relationship with the sea. I was anthropologically fascinated by why people might want to do something that seemed so counterintuitive: to hold their...

If you’ve seen any docuseries set in jails or prisons recently, you may have seen incarcerated people holding tablets. As Philip Vance Smith II writes from inside a medium-security prison, these aren’t just telecom devices to handle phone and payment services. They also deliver movies and television—at costs that vary from facility to facility, but...

This story was funded by our members. Join Longreads and help us to support more writers. This week, our picks feature: Student protesters in their own words. Dance as freedom from disability. Wealth disparity in Big Sky, Montana. The Anthropocene as earth’s final epoch. Birthing a Cabbage Patch...