The Lonely Quiet After NewtownEli Saslow, The Washington Post, June 8Six months later, the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, fades into the past, and the parents left behind try to make the country remember.
Thanksgiving in MongoliaAriel Levy, The New Yorker, November 18A journalist’s harrowing, heartbreaking story of her miscarriage while on assignment in a remote corner of Asia.
On SmarmTom Scocca, Gawker, December 5From literature to politics, smarm—an insistence on civility, a finger-wagging disapproval of negativity—is doing its best to keep the cultural elite insulated from criticism.
Manti Teo’s Dead GirlfriendTimothy Burke and Jack Dickey, Deadspin, January 16The most heartbreaking and inspiring story of the college football season is a hoax.
How to Catch a Falling StarStephen Rodrick, The New York Times Magazine, January 13This is what happens when you cast Lindsay Lohan in your movie.
I’m a 34-Year-Old NBA Center. And I’m Black. And I’m Gay.Jason Collins, Sports Illustrated, May 6The coming-out story that rocked basketball—and the world.
The Passion of Lew WallaceJohn Swansburg, Slate, March 26The incredible story of how a disgraced Civil War general became one of the best-selling novelists in American history.
The Self in Self-HelpKathryn Schulz, New York, January 6We have no idea what a self is. So how can we fix it?
The Rise of the New New LeftPeter Beinart, The Daily Beast, September 12Bill de Blasio’s win in New York’s Democratic primary isn’t a local story. It’s part of a vast shift that could upend three decades of American political thinking.
How Smash Became Network TV’s Biggest TrainwreckKate Aurthur, BuzzFeed, January 30Smash was supposed to be the show that saved NBC—but people laughed at it instead. How did it all go so wrong?
Murder by CraigslistHannah Rosin, The Atlantic, August 14A serial killer finds a newly vulnerable class of victims: white working-class men.
Change the WorldGeorge Packer, The New Yorker, May 27Silicon Valley transfers its slogans—and its money—to the realm of politics.
The Limits of Evolutionary PsychologyThomas de Zengotita, The Hedgehog ReviewCan we really find ethical guidance in a natural world shaped by evolution?
SunkKathryn Miles, Outside, February 11The incredible truth about a ship that never should have sailed.
The Social Life of GenesDavid Dobbs, Pacific Standard, SeptemberYour DNA is not a blueprint. Day by day, week by week, your genes are in a conversation with your surroundings. Your neighbors, your family, your feelings of loneliness: They don’t just get under your skin, they get into the control rooms of your cells. Inside the new social science of genetics.
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