I’ve been grappling with what made Ida Tarbell so good since about 1983, when I was appointed executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). I felt I needed to read her 1905 classic, “The History of the Standard Oil … Read more
We just posted our 100th “Why’s This So Good?,” Abeer Najjar’s look at the Susan Dominus story in the New York Times Magazine, “Hana.” Nearly twice a month since June 2011, we’ve had accomplished journalists … Read more
Refugee children usually appear in the news media because they’ve died in a shocking accident, or they’re seen as a threat to the social order or the security of a nation where they’ve fled. In “The Displaced,” … Read more
Complex litigation of the kind typically handled by large corporate law firms contains no shortage of absurdities; indeed, absurdity can sometimes seem to be its basic condition, despite the sobering amounts of money at stake for the parties and the … Read more
Several writers have explored the ecological transformation of the Colorado River, dammed decades ago to supply water for 33 million people in the West and northern Mexico, but Craig Childs may be the only one to do so from atop … Read more
The scene could fit nicely into a Harry Crews novel: A legless man with a “beatific look of ecstasy on his thin, pale face” sits on a dolly outside the airport in Valdez, Alaska. Crews initially understands the look to … Read more
Jean McConville had just taken a bath when the intruders knocked on the door. The rasp of knuckles at a West Belfast flat would jar many people at night in 1972. That sound for so many – fathers, young men, … Read more
It had been three months since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and stories probing the life and possible influences of the shooter Adam Lanza were still all over the news, so when I opened my … Read more
Joe Rhodes pulls off the nearly impossible in “How My Aunt Marge Ended Up in the Deep Freeze,” an edgy New York Times magazine piece. He takes a horrific event—the murder of a family member, an … Read more
It’s hard to know where to begin when attempting to grapple with the sprawling legacy of racial discrimination and oppression in America. But Ta-Nehisi Coates knows there to start. “The Case For Reparations,” Coates’ latest tour … Read more
