Editor’s note: The sentence in our headline is not the One Great Sentence flagged by Storyboard contributor Jill U. Adams. It’s the opening sentence of a profile of Iowa that sets up the sentence Adams really wrote about. “Somewhere … Read more
Who can say what causes a reader to pause, in one moment, a line or passage she might zoom through at other times? Some sudden notice of the melody of language? Some echo of a forgotten conversation? For me, … Read more
Lizzy Goodman’s “Meet Me in the Bathroom” is such a raucous oral history of New York’s indie rock scene that readers’ ears are in danger of ringing while reading. It’s vivid and grimy enough to make you feel … Read more
It takes many held-breath pages and held-breath sentences and held-breath thoughts to reach Page 407 of “The Testaments” where, in something of an epilogue to the main story, you come across this line. And then you hold your breath … Read more
If this sentence seems lacking a word, it is. We’ll get to that in a moment. Until then, bookmark the notion of “good enough” — an aspiration that seems to elude most writers. But first a bit of context: … Read more
After you watch Greta Thunberg’s speech a second or third time, after your heart rate slows, after your guilt subsides (a bit) — read the transcript. Franklin Foer of The Atlantic wrote about the … Read more
Journalism’s most idealistic missions are well-known and, despite the sine wave of attacks throughout history and the economic disruptions of the digital age, remain immutable: Give voice to the voiceless. Hold power accountable. Serve the public … Read more
A sentence that grabs you by the heart and hooks you into the narrative is one of the most powerful ways to become one with the pages. It also keeps the reader thinking days later, kind of like a … Read more
You can’t turn around in the U.S. these days without bumping into a cry of “Fake News!” or a news story decrying the same. Not that spin is a modern phenomenon. Throughout human history, propaganda has been a tool … Read more
