We recommended 810 articles this year. These were our favorites.
The Long, Complicated Legacy of a North Carolina Company Town
Their community forged by industry, residents of Badin, North Carolina confront the long shadow of racism and pollution.
Unmaking a Murderer
Inside the effort to exonerate the “Starved Rock Killer.” After 60 years behind bars for one of this state’s most infamous crimes, Chester Weger is out to prove his innocence with DNA testing.
Creating a Better Leaf
Could tinkering with photosynthesis prevent a global food crisis?
The Wrath of the Gods
How reading can lead to resilience in the most trying times.
George Saunders is the author of eleven books. His latest is A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.
”I really have so much affection for being alive. I really enjoy it. And yet, I’m a little negative minded in a lot of ways too, like I really think things tend to be fucked up. ... To get that on the page—to sufficiently praise the loveliness of the world without being a sap, and also lacerate the world for being so goddamn mean—to do those in the same story would be a great aspiration. And I haven’t gotten there yet.”
How the Taxi Workers Won
Inside a 45-day fight.
The Excavations of Pedro Almodóvar
The 72-year-old is still making movies that shock.
Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into the Social Media Lives of Teens
A primer on how the smartphone generation is redefining communication.
The Escalating Costs of Being Single in America
Why is life in this country so hostile to single people?
Citizens Hide From Active Shooters as Alaska Is Slow to Deliver on 2019 Promise of Village Troopers
As the summer months stretched into fall, Justin Edwards would sometimes bump into the man wanted for his attempted murder.
Alison Roman Just Can’t Help Herself
A food-world star’s method and mess.
The Company Man
On Tse Chi Lop, “the Jeff Bezos of the drug trade” and ringleader of a $21-billion crime syndicate.
Inside the Fall of Kabul
Against all predictions, the Taliban took the Afghan capital in a matter of hours. This is the story of why and what came after, by a reporter and photographer who witnessed it all.
theLAnd Interview: John Rechy
In his 90th year, L.A.’s finest living writer discusses his heroes and inspirations, the anti-gay and anti-Mexican prejudices he’s weathered and the wisdom accrued over a miraculous life.
The Internet Has a Rat Poison Problem
How online sales of highly regulated, super-toxic rodenticides exploit gaps in the law and imperil wildlife.
The Long Way Home
How NFL wide receiver Demaryius Thomas lost his mother and grandmother to drug dealing, and how he plans on bringing them home.
Death of a Lobsterman
On a remote island in Maine, a group of friends thought they witnessed one man killing another with an ax. But no one was ever arrested. In a small town far out at sea, justice sometimes works a little differently.
Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever
27 courses that will live on in nightmares.
“No, I Have Not Been Fired From The Goldbergs”: Jeff Garlin Responds to Talk of Misbehavior on Set
The comic answers some uncomfortable questions.
For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II
In 1936, Karp Lykov whisked his family into the Siberian wilderness to escape Bolshevik persecution. They remained there, alone, until discovered by a helicopter crew in 1978.
Emily Oster is an economist, professor, and author. Her new book is The Family Firm.
”[COVID] has been 18 months of being a person who is slightly more public, who is saying things that are somewhat more controversial, where people yell at me a lot. ... I do much less reading of the comments than I did early on because I found that eventually I just got mad and that's not a productive way to interact. And it affects how I think about what I write, and I would like what I write to be the things that I think are true, not the things I think will avoid people being angry.”
Losing a Teenage Dream
“Before I came to Hollywood, I was confidently queer. Years of mixed messages in the industry changed that.”
Did My Uncle Drown or Was He Murdered?
Mardi Fuller grew up in a world of swimming lessons and swim teams because of a mysterious death that haunted her family’s past.
Inside the One-Man Intelligence Unit That Exposed the Secrets and Atrocities of Syria's War
A profile of Eliot Higgins, whose blog, Brown Moses, has become required reading at intelligence agencies, human rights organizations, and news outlets around the world.