Posted inEditor's Pick

The Prisoner

In 1991, twelve-year-old Edwin Debrow killed a cab driver. Twenty-five years later, he remains in prison, continuing to be denied parole since 1999. Is the public better served by putting youngsters in adult prisons and keeping them off the streets for years and years?

Posted inEditor's Pick

The Anthologies of John D’Agata

Literary feuds often feel sad and empty, but intelligent, measured critiques advance human knowledge and get people thinking. Although not a response to the recent Atlantic piece about writer John D’Agata’s take/mistake on the essay form, this piece by another essayist adds many welcome dimensions to this ongoing debate around the definition and nature of […]

Posted inEditor's Pick

Chain Reaction

Cycling culture has the reputation for being a boys club filled with patronizing shop clerks and a highly stratified, male-centric attitude, but Canadian female mechanics are dismantling that gender normative bro-show and increasing access and respect for female cyclists.

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In Defense of Facts

The essay is a flexible, accommodating form of writing based in fact. Writer William Deresiewicz takes writer John D’Agata to task for what he believes is D’Agata’s misleading account of the essay’s history, its form and its modern incarnation, and he skillfully dismantles the vague but inaccurate concept of the essay that D’Agata’s three large […]