Commonwealth v. Mohamed
The tragic death of a thirteen year old girl in a car accident becomes a story of immigration and the American justice system after a Sudanese refugee was charged with manslaughter over the incident.
The Senseless Logic of the Wild
A survival story about a group of young men from New York in their early twenties who were on an expedition to Alaska when the weather turned bad and things went very wrong.
My disabled son’s amazing gaming life in the World of Warcraft
It was only after his death that the parents of a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, learned that their son Mats had lived had a vibrant online life in World of Warcraft as Ibelin, “a nobleman by birth, a philanderer and a detective”.
The teen lovebirds last saw each other in 1952. Now they were reuniting. But was it love?
She was a Brazilian heiress on her first trip abroad, he the son of the owners of the hotel where she was staying in Italy. Teenage romance blossomed, but it would be more than half a century before they met again.
I Almost Married a Con Man
The story of an experienced journalist’s doomed relationship with the man she called “The Commander”. She asks herself why she, someone trained to ask questions, didn’t see the warning signs.
In a Perpetual Present
A story examining the unusual case of a middle aged woman who experiences everything in the present. The difference between her and many people in a similar situation is that rather than having the agony of losing the ability to form and access memories, she has never had it. This study of a life experienced without memory is illuminating and surprising.
The Biggest Secret
The author relates his experience as a New York Times investigative reporter covering the War on Terror, and outlines the pressure that journalists come under from governments to censor stories and reveal sources.
Promethea Unbound
A fine piece looking at the difficulties experienced by a child genius, including a financial benefactor trying to kill her mother.
Saddam’s cake
A crackling piece from 2000, recounting the author’s experience attending the birthday party of a “global pariah”. Sample guest – a Bulgarian MP who has brought him a sniper rifle as a present. The 17 subsequent years of Iraq’s history make for a dark prism through which to read the story.
The Living Disappeared
An account of the babies born in torture centres during Argentina’s military dictatorship, and the search to find them, led by a group of grandmothers.