What are the best culture and society essay sites for reading long-form essays and thoughtful criticism?

Here are some of the best places to read long-form culture and society essays plus serious criticism:

Broad, high-quality essay sites

• The New Yorker — Strong long-form reporting, cultural criticism, essays, and profiles.
• The Atlantic — Good mix of society, ideas, politics, and cultural analysis.
• London Review of Books (LRB) — One of the best for deep literary, political, and cultural criticism.
• The New York Review of Books (NYRB) — Excellent intellectual essays and book criticism.
• Aeon — Thoughtful, often philosophical essays on culture, society, science, and ideas.
• Granta — Literary essays, reportage, and reflective writing with strong style.
• n+1 — Sharp cultural criticism and essays, often with a more left/intellectual angle.

Strong for criticism and cultural commentary

• Vulture — Particularly good for TV, film, celebrity, and pop-culture criticism.
• The Baffler — Essays and criticism with a political/economic edge.
• Dissent — Culture, politics, and social criticism from a progressive perspective.
• Jacobin — If you want culture criticism tied to politics and labor issues.
• The Point — Shorter than some others, but often very thoughtful cultural essays.

Essay journals / literary culture

• The Paris Review — Interviews, essays, fiction, and literary criticism.
• Guernica — International, literary, and politically engaged essays.
• Hazlitt — Excellent long-form essays and criticism, especially literary/cultural.
• The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) — Huge range of essays and criticism across culture, books, and society.
• Witness — Strong for literary nonfiction and reflective essays.

More niche but excellent

• 3 Quarks Daily — Aggregates thoughtful essays from around the web.
• Public Books — Strong essays on books, politics, culture, and academia.
• The Hedgehog Review — Deep cultural and social criticism, often essays with a reflective tone.
• Cabinet — More experimental/intellectual, but rich in cultural criticism.

If you want the best “starter pack”

If you only pick 5, I’d suggest:

1. London Review of Books
2. The New York Review of Books
3. The New Yorker
4. Aeon
5. LARB

If you want, I can also give you:

• a more academic list
• a more left-wing list
• a more literary/beautiful-writing list
• or a free-only list