Notable Narratives

In a City Under Strain, Ladling Out Fortification

In our second Notable Narrative for June, cook Ines De Costa makes soup at a social club in the ailing city of Fall River, Massachusetts. New York Times columnist Dan…

Killer Blue: Baptized by Fire

June’s first Notable Narrative recounts the story of Blue Platoon, Killer Troop, whose soldiers returned to the U.S. in 2009 after finishing one of the last 15-month combat tours in…

The Monster Inside My Son

Our second notable narrative for this month chronicles dual transformations. An autistic young man who had found his footing collapses into rage and violence. And a mother who once wrote…

Flight 1549 Survivor Got Out of the Hudson, Back into the Air

This month’s first Notable Narrative invites the reader in just before takeoff and then follows Casey Jones—who survived the U.S. Airways crash landing in the Hudson River—as he returns to…

Ana’s Story

One side of 24 year-old Ana Rodarte’s face balloons and sags with disfiguring neurofibromatosis. Can surgery help? Los Angeles Times reporter Thomas Curwen takes on a classic medical drama and covers…

Waiting for Death, Alone and Unafraid

“Waiting for Death, Alone and Unafraid,” paints a portrait of Dr. Edwin Shneidman, a 90-year-old suicide prevention expert who longs to die. A single day provides an elegant frame for…

Frozen in indifference: Life goes on around body found in vacant warehouse

In this month’s Notable Narrative, a dead body lies abandoned in a dilapidated warehouse on Detroit’s west side. A description of the body “suspended in the ice like a porpoising…

The Collar and the Gun

The life and death of an American Catholic in Africa provides the subject for this month’s Notable Narrative, “The Collar and the Gun.” The three-part serial draws out narrative details…

Fixing Mr. Fix-it

“Fixing Mr. Fix-it,” this month’s Notable Narrative, tells the story of inadvertent amputation, its medical reversal, and the efforts of Norm Martin—“Mr. Fix-it”’—to recover and resume his life. Author Diane…

Hidden Hurt

This month’s Notable Narrative, “Hidden Hurt,” from The Washington Post Magazine, addresses poverty, the plight of the uninsured, and the long-term health effects of mining—all by covering one weekend at…