Sunday’s Washington Post carried the kind of story that can leave you limp for days. Rare anymore is the narrative that has such a visceral effect, but Eli Saslow’s piece about Jackie and Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son … Read more
@GlobeMoskowitz One of the most riveting stories to emerge from the Boston Marathon bombing coverage was the Boston Globe piece, by Eric Moskowitz, about “Danny,” the young Chinese entrepreneur … Read more
I still remember where I was—sitting in a dive bar in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., trying to tune out the noise from the beach bums and a jukebox blaring Madonna and the Bangles—when I read these words: Just before noon the … Read more
My estimable friend and former colleague Paul Kix recently wrote a column in this space on John Jeremiah Sullivan. In it he cited an essay Sullivan wrote about the art of writing: A fundamental law of storytelling is: … Read more
I think it’s fair to say that most of America was shocked when news of Tiger Woods’ sex scandal broke in late 2009. I’m also pretty sure that anyone who had read “The Man. Amen.” by Charles … Read more
In all likelihood, “The Cipher in Room 214” began with a fairly empty notebook. Most stories do, but in this case it probably looked like it was going to stay that way. The quotes that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s Carol Smith … Read more
The first time most people fall for E.B. White – certainly the first time I did – they are 6 or 7 or 8. In 1952, “Charlotte’s Web” made him the New Yorker writer with the largest grade-school fan base. I … Read more
Last summer, John Jeremiah Sullivan wrote an essay about Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!, and amid his deft and borderline genius thoughts on the novel – “It…dramatize[s] historical consciousness itself, not just human lives but the forest of time in which … Read more
Like the hook of a catchy song, David Ramsey’s “I Will Forever Remain Faithful,” from the Fall 2008 issue of The Oxford American, lures you in with a promise: 1. Complex magazine: What do you listen to these … Read more
Another writer introduced me to William Hazlitt’s Liber Amoris as if he were passing along a tip to eat in a restaurant with great food but clumsy waiters. “It’s not for everybody,” he said. “But you definitely won’t … Read more
