Longreads: Best of 2011

Longreads: Best of 2011 contains seven must-read stories selected from the hundreds of publications and authors featured on Longreads.com, a site dedicated to helping readers find and share the best in-depth storytelling on the web.

This year's selection includes a tragic story about a chimp named Travis raised by a couple in Connecticut, the mysterious disappearance of a child-prodigy author, a manifesto for the modern woman, a stunning play-by-play of doomed commercial airliner moments before it crashes, a look at an autistic teen's transition to adulthood, an investigation of a gang-rape in Texas, and an examination of David Foster Wallace's bookshelves.

Longreads: Best of 2011 includes:

• "Travis the Menace," by Dan P. Lee (New York magazine)
• "Vanishing Act," by Paul Collins (Lapham's Quarterly)
• "In Which We Teach You How to Be a Woman in Any Boy's Club," by Molly Lambert (This Recording)
• "What Really Happened Aboard Air France Flight 447," by Jeff Wise (Popular Mechanics)
• "Autistic and Seeking a Place in an Adult World," by Amy Harmon (New York Times)
• "The Girl from Trails End," by Kathy Dobie (GQ)
• "Inside David Foster Wallace's Private Self-Help Library," by Maria Bustillos (The Awl)