Articles

This is a finely reconstructed account of a charismatic leader who moved into a town and changed nearly everything about it. We like Lewan’s opening paragraphs: His language suggests legend…

This series got a lot of attention: The Plain Dealer’s Web traffic increased dramatically during the week of its publication, says Stuart Warner, an editor and writing coach at the…

This essay is adapted from Rick Meyer’s notes for a talk at the 2005 Nieman Narrative Editors’ Seminar. Rick’s presentation was paired with Laurie Hertzel’s talk on scenes. We probably ought…

Benham strikes the right tone in this piece—friendly and a touch ironic. The piece is punctuated by creative passages and playful quips. But there’s substance here, too: The playfulness is…

This is a wonderfully consistent profile, with thorough and effective characterization. Lewin provides telling details that stick to a theme, and yet the portrayal is not simplistic. Her material is…

Like another series by Nutt on this site, “The Seekers,” this piece is not truly narrative. But it shows how a companionable voice and a sense of destination, applied to…

In this fourth installment in the Times’ series on class, Lewin provides lots of quotes, and not much dialogue or scene—and yet the intimate reporting, the insightful and probing look…

We particularly like the first several sections of this piece. Earls provides an effective sequential experience for her readers: first a cliffhanger beginning, then an efficient summary of the topic,…

This is as much a story about suicide and those affected by it as it is a story about the particular life and death of a passionate, brilliant writer. By…

By spending a day with Army recruiters, Moehringer shows us much about the hurdles the Army faces in keeping up with the war in Iraq. At the same time, Moehringer’s…