Articles

Annotation Tuesday! Sarah Schweitzer of the Boston Globe on “The life and times of Strider Wolf”

Annotation Tuesday! Sarah Schweitzer of the Boston Globe on “The life and times of Strider Wolf”

Sarah Schweitzer has spent almost two decades honing her narrative instincts at The Boston Globe and the St. Petersburg Times. In April 2015 she was acknowledged by the Pulitzer Prize…

When journalists follow the money, it can lead to great stories

The audacious claim by the government of Bangladesh that hackers spoofed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York into giving them tens of millions of Bangladesh’s dollars has us salivating…

Why’s This So Bad? Confirmation Bias and Failed Narratives

There’s a scene in Evelyn Waugh’s scathing journalism send-up “Scoop” where Wenlock Jakes, the world-beating American reporter (based on John Gunther of the old Chicago Daily News), is sent to the…
Annotation Tuesday! "Criminal" and "The Fifth Suspect"

Annotation Tuesday! “Criminal” and “The Fifth Suspect”

Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer launched “Criminal” in 2014, with producer Eric Mennel. Judge and Spohrer had worked together on “The Story” with Dick Gordon, a public radio program that went…

From Esquire Classic: “Love in the Time of Magic”

Mid February marked the anniversary of Magic Johnson’s 1992 return to the NBA after having retired the previous fall, when he announced he was HIV positive. He turned in a…
Three points in favor of “literary journalism”

Three points in favor of “literary journalism”

Josh RoilandNobody’s really happy with the term “literary journalism.” But we need to learn to love it, says Josh Roiland, assistant professor of communication and journalism at the University of…

Esquire Classic: Mark Warren on the odyssey of Stephanie Lee, “Patient Zero”

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, Esquire executive editor Mark Warren and writer at large Tom Junod drove to Mississippi to visit the displaced families of…
Annotation Tuesday! Sarah Scoles and “How to Save People from Snakebites”

Annotation Tuesday! Sarah Scoles and “How to Save People from Snakebites”

Science presents particular challenges for narrative writers, like deciphering the often arcane language of scientific studies, or coaxing pithy quotes from scientists accustomed to speaking in academicese, and wary of…

Esquire Classic: Mark Zwonitzer on the making of “What It Takes”

“What It Takes,” Richard Ben Cramer’s exhaustive account of the 1988 presidential election, took so long to report and write—six years in all—that it wasn’t published until the 1992 election.…
Dale Russakoff: “How do you write a book without a hero?”

Dale Russakoff: “How do you write a book without a hero?”

Dale Russakoff spent 28 years as a reporter for The Washington Post before writing her first book, “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?” Russakoff, who took a buyout…