The Journalist Biography in an Age of Crisis

Nicholas Kristof started his journalism career as a teen-age reporter for the News-Register, an Oregon county newspaper where he was paid twenty-five cents a column inch. He spent his pocket money on books about how to turn that gig into a career: a textbook on news editing, “The Best of Life,” accounts of White House … Read more

Josef Koudelka Could Locate Beauty Anywhere

Koudelka’s personal uniform featured sturdy workman’s shoes. “I wake up,” Koudelka said, at Pace. “I walk all day. Every year a new pair of shoes.” He was a lithe, muscular man who could cook and wash his clothes anywhere, mend any hole or tear, and remain agile with multiple cameras dangling from his neck. He … Read more

The Best Bio-Pics Ever Made

The bio-pic is a genre of extremes. The best ones share a uniquely powerful artistic authority, but merely ordinary ones are truly disheartening. The trouble isn’t only that of inflated prestige; bio-pics are disproportionately prominent during awards season and therefore ballyhooed nearly to oblivion. The form’s peculiar place in the art of movies is inseparable … Read more

The Abortion Provider Who Became the Most Hated Woman in New York

She chose the name because it sounded French. When she took out her first newspaper ad, in 1839, she wanted to cultivate an air of mystery and sophistication. In time, her pseudonym, Madame Restell, would be furnished with a backstory for the women who arrived at her office door. The Madame, they were told, had … Read more

Milton Friedman, the Prizefighter | The New Yorker

In 2002, three months after Milton Friedman turned ninety, a celebratory conference was convened at the school that had become synonymous with his ideas. Ben Bernanke, then a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, delivered a talk at the University of Chicago on “Depression and Recovery.” It had been thirty-nine years since Friedman … Read more