1. ‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’
Where was the president in the eight hours after the Sept. 11 attacks? The strange, harrowing journey of Air Force One, as told by the people who were on board.
2. White House Women Want to Be in the Room Where It Happens
Shine theory in action. (And OK, we know you read this one. But it’s worth re-reading/committing to memory. See you in the boardroom Monday.)
The instantly iconic, excruciatingly terrible photo of a man falling headfirst from a burning World Trade Center ran in many newspapers on Sept. 12, 2001, and then never again. Tom Junod’s heartbreaking quest to identify the man is one of Esquire’s most recognizable pieces (first published in 2003, they bring it out, slightly polished, every Sept. 11). "Maybe he didn't jump at all, because no one can jump into the arms of God. Oh, no. You have to fall."
A poignant look inside the frozen world of Google Street View, where the exteriors of our lives are captured and preserved forever, for better and worse.
5. Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom
The Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia was once a thriving refuge for runaways.
Kathleen Hale spends a week reporting from inside the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. “If I’ve learned anything this week, it’s that girls are expected to lose like winners, and win like losers.”
7. The Unsung, Often-Dangerous Job of the Fixer
The role of the fixer — usually a local journalist — is a precise and peculiar one: caught between foreign and local journalism, unable to fully participate in either but often subject to repercussions for both.
8. Could Religion's Decline Spell Damnation for the U.S. Economy?
A new study takes a look at the economically intertwined and potentially fraught relationship between America's two historical masters: God and money.
9. Building Up Chicago's South Side Through Ambitious Art
The city has “wasted opportunities that are waiting to be beautiful again, and I'm giving them a charge,” says Theaster Gates, an internationally lauded artist, urban planner, community organizer, program administrator, and university professor.
10. On the Anniversary of 9/11, White Christians Were Stopped at Checkpoints Across Washington, D.C.
How LGBTQ, South Asian, and API activists set out to flip the script on profiling in our post-9/11 nation.
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