All of the essays in the series' eighth year exhibit a timeless prose in the midst of meeting deadlines. But many also resonate with a special sense of timeliness, such as the insightful Rules of Engagement by William Langewiesche, a detailed study for Vanity Fair of the U.S. massacre of Iraqi citizens in the town of Haditha. Other essays have a similar sense of urgency: Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman for Rolling Stone—the result of a nine-month investigation—is a terrific and balanced look at an organization whose top leaders assert that false ideas, including the concepts of God, Christ, and organized religion, date back 75 million years to the work of an evil galactic warrior named Xenu. C.J. Chivers's The School for Esquire is a harrowing account of the three-day siege by Chechen terrorists of a grammar school in the Russian town of Beslan.
This collection offers a sampling of the winners of the 2005 National Magazine awards as well as a sense of the place that magazine writing occupies in modern American journalism. The 17 pieces offered in this anthology include investigative reporting, critical essays, and one piece of fiction, and come from magazines as varied as Esquire, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and Atlantic Monthly. The collection includes Seymour Hersh on the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, David Quammen on Darwin's theory of evolution, Andrew Corsello on wrongfully convicted lifers freed by exonerating DNA evidence, Ian Parker on the gift of organ donation, and James McManus on stem cell research. What they all have in common is dynamism, passionate expression, and a depth of coverage from firsthand reporting. Readers will appreciate this collection from well-known and rising talents among American journalists.