Best articles of the 2010s

This is a subsection of the larger Best Magazine Articles Ever list. The list introduction, top 25, and links to other decades are here.

* David James Smith, “It’s Murder Every Day in the Old Bailey.” The Times, January 10, 2010. A wonderful insight into the Old Bailey, for the first time. Far more beautiful on the page.

* Matt Taibbi, “Wall Street’s Bailout Hustle.” Rolling Stone, February 17, 2010.

* Joshuah Bearman, “Art of the Steal: On the Trial of World’s Most Ingenious Thief.” Wired Magazine, March 22, 2010.

* Matt Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine.” Rolling Stone, April 5, 2010.

* Michael Paterniti, “The Suicide Catcher.” GQ, May 2010. Great discussion of this article also appears in This American Life, called The Bridge, originally aired May 7, 2010.

* Janet Malcolm, “Iphigenia in Forest Hills.” The New Yorker, May 3, 2010. A compelling look at a murder trial, the rituals of a courtroom and a contemplation on being a journalist all rolled into one.

* Roger Ebert, “Why I Hate 3-D (And You Should Too).” Newsweek, May 10, 2010. scathing critique of 3D movies

* Katy Butler, “What Broke My Father’s Heart.” The New York Times Magazine, June 14, 2010.

* Naomi Klein, “Gulf Oil Spill: A Hole in the World.” The Guardian, June 19, 2010. The single best piece I’ve seen on the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

* Errol Morris, “The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is.” The New York Times, Opinion, June 20, 2010. There’s been a lot of well-written, breezy books on the brain in the last–well, I don’t know; since I’ve been paying attention?–but this series maps the concepts of perception and the physiology behind perceiving reality and the harsh truth of reality to interesting, practical anecdotes, some of which are recent, and some of which are historical. It’s fascinating.

* Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General.” Rolling Stone, June 22, 2010. An entertaining read and  because of impact it had on Army leadership it has become historically important.

* David Grann, “The Mark of a Masterpiece: The Man Who Keeps Finding Famous Fingerprints on Uncelebrated Works of Art.” The New Yorker, July 12, 2010.

** Atul Gawande, “Letting Go: What Should Medicine Do When It Can’t Save Your Life?” The New Yorker, August 2, 2010. I couldn’t read it all at once because I started crying at several points.

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