Select articles worth reading from 2019
Each year, I often find myself sharing articles on Facebook or Twitter or via email. They come and go. Sometimes they were worth sharing. Sometimes not so much. And then they pass into oblivion—at least, for me.
This year, I started tracking articles I came across that interested me and held them in reserve. I would reread them weeks later to see if they were still interesting. Sometimes they were.
These are hardly representative articles from 2019. They are often centered around academia, wildfires, law, or particular political events. Some are more for their visual essays and conveyance of content. I don’t necessarily agree with all the commentaries or embrace all the analyses. But I found them valuable. And here they are. (I may add more before December 31.)
Helen Andrews, Shame Storm, First Things, January 2019
Burton G. Malkiel, The Secrets of Jack Bogle’s Investment Success, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 18, 2019
Charles C.W. Cook, Bad, Press, National Review, Feb. 11, 2019
Sam Walker, The Truth About Failing Spectacularly, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 16, 2019
Peggy Noonan, Welcome to New York, Amazon—Now Go Home, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 23, 2019
Casey Newton, The Trauma Floor: The Secret Lives of Facebook Moderators in America, The Verge, Feb. 25, 2019
Gordon Fraser, The Twitterization of the Academic Mind, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mar. 22, 2019
Adam Harris, The Death of an Adjunct, The Atlantic, Apr. 8, 2019
Christina Thompson, The Ritual of Renewal, The American Scholar, Apr. 10, 2019
Shadi Hamid, The Fundamental Legitimacy of Donald Trump, The Atlantic, Apr. 11, 2019
James R. Hagerty, An Obituary Writer Writes One for Himself, Wall Street Journal, Apr. 19, 2019
Ruth Simon, ‘I Don’t Want to See Him Fail’: A Firm Takes a Chance on Ex-Inmates, Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2019
Michael M. Phillips, ‘It’s a Lifelong Burden’: The Mixed Blessing of the Medal of Honor, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2019
Doug Brock Clark, John Chau, American Missionary and the Uncontacted Tribe, GQ, Aug. 22, 2019
Jason Nark, The Last of the Dunk Tank Clowns, New York Times, Sept. 7, 2019
Cody Stavenhagen, Suits, dinners and the secret world of paying it forward in the big leagues, The Athletic, Sept. 9, 2019
Anthony Abraham Jack, I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part, New York Times, Sept. 10, 2019
Garrett M. Graff, On September 11, Luck Meant Everything, The Atlantic, Sept. 10, 2019
Dorena Williamson, Botham Jean’s Brother’s Offer of Forgiveness Went Viral. His Mother’s Calls for Justice Should Too, Christianity Today, Oct. 4, 2019
Megan H. Pesch, Driving in the Minivan—Life as a Pediatrician and Parent of a Child with Disabilities, JAMA, Oct. 1, 2019
Joseph Cerna, Want to Fireproof Your Home? It Takes a Village, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 3, 2019
Erin Ailworth, A Year After Fire Destroyed Paradise, a Gutsy Group Fights to Rebuild, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2019
Noah Buhayar & Christopher Cannon, How California Became America’s Housing Nightmare, Bloomberg, Nov. 6, 2019
Dan Levin, The Class of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything.’ Until Opioids Hit, New York Times, Dec. 3, 2019