Exceptional writing: a Workshop shortlist

By: Zane Anthony

Posted: Jan. 24, 2018 | Tags: Media Shortlist, What We're Reading

This season’s media shortlist from The Investigative Reporting Workshop covers a gamut of written works from January.

With the luxury of time off these last two months, I managed to read voraciously and halved my backlog of bookmarked journalism.

Here are some of my favorite pieces, which found themselves falling under three tidy headers — cryptocurrency, gender and biography. I hope you set aside some time to explore these examples of outstanding writing.

 

CRYPTOCURRENCY

“Bitcoin Mania”

SUE HALPERN for The New York Review of Books, Jan. 18, 2018

A finely tuned portrait of the budding, oft-misunderstood cryptocurrency craze. Halpern reviews off-the-press books on "crypto." She is a scholar-in-residence at my alma mater, Middlebury College, in Vermont.

“Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble”

STEVEN JOHNSON for The New York Times, Jan. 16, 2018

The bitcoin “mania” could have seismic social implications as we edge closer toward midcentury.

 

GENDER

“‘Forget About the Stigma’: Male Nurses Explain Why Nursing Is a Job of the Future for Men”

CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and RUTH FREMSON for The New York Times, Jan. 4, 2018

A 2018 snapshot of the nursing profession, where more and more male-identifying professionals are choosing careers.

“When Barbie Went to War with Bratz: How a legal battle over intellectual property exposed a cultural battle over sex, gender roles and the workplace”

JILL LEPORE for The New Yorker, Jan. 22, 2018

Jill Lepore, a Harvard history professor, is one of my favorite essayists at The New Yorker. She's brave, precise and remarkably deft at finding asymmetry in commonly accepted U.S. histories. In this story, she pares down gendered talks of the moment surrounding sexual politics and workplace misconduct using Barbies and Bratz dolls.

“I Used to Insist I Didn’t Get Angry. Not Anymore. On female rage.”

LESLIE JAMISON for The New York Times Magazine, Jan. 17, 2018

Leslie Jamison dissects the shifting societal image of the angry woman. “The sad woman often looks beautiful in her suffering: ennobled, transfigured, elegant,” Jamison writes. “Angry women are messier. Their pain threatens to cause more collateral damage.”

 

BIOGRAPHY

"Losing Conner’s Mind: The race to save a child from a genetic death sentence."

AMITHA KALAICHANDRAN for The Atavist Magazine

Follow a child’s battle with a rare genetic condition. Ready the Kleenex.

"In Conversation: Terry Gross"

DAVID MARCHESE for Vulture, Jan. 10, 2018

Here, the iconic Fresh Air host shares her secrets — and makes you smile. Her iconic voice comes through, even in print.