Our favorite personal essays published this year include stories on loss, Indigenous community, video games, caring for aging relatives, and the fear of missing love.
Outside
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Hiker and a Terrier Climbed a Peak. The Dog Came Home 72 Days Later.
“And then they told Holby the rest of the news. Finney, all four pounds of wriggling and barking and bug-eating energy, was alive.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Cowgirls All the Way
“What do these people care about green horses when what they are looking for is Phyllis George Evans, her hair flashing in the floodlights and her ass fastened on anything that nickers?”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring standout reads from Ian Urbina, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sallie Tisdale, Brad Rassler, and Adam Reiner.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Winging It with the New Backcountry Barnstormers
“Throughout the lower 48, recreational bush pilots are using their nimble planes and social media influence to spread the word about bold frontiers in flight.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Three Bros in Their Thirties Turned Their Animal Obsession into a Binge-Worthy Podcast
“Nearly half a million listeners download ‘Tooth and Claw’ each month. Can the show also help save the animals it profiles?”
Posted inUncategorized
The Kid Stays in the Picture
“Max Lowe made a big splash in 2021 with ‘Torn,’ a documentary about the death of his famous father, alpinist Alex Lowe, and how it shook and shaped his family.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
To Air is Human
“Despite overwhelming concern for his physical well-being, writer and longtime road cyclist Tom Vanderbilt wanted to see what it felt like to take to the air.”
Posted inTop 5
Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Human ingenuity in the face of crumbling infrastructure. One man’s quest to save a bird that might already be extinct. The cultural schism dividing a major musical genre. A personal essay braiding space and family. And a jungle trek gone horribly, horribly awry. These are our editors’ favorite reads of the week. 1. The Balkans’ […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
How I Survived a Wedding in a Jungle That Tried to Eat Me Alive
“Nothing says “I do” like a small blood sacrifice.”