Essays & Stories

Fear of an Invisible Threat
The coronavirus and the mystery of an unseen enemy.
The New Republic, March 2020

Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood
Which may explain her longshot bid for the presidency.
New York Magazine, June 2019

The Fall of USA Gymnastics
A predator and his sport.
New York Magazine, November 2018

Who Is Reality Winner?
New York Magazine, December 2017

Hunting Rebecca Francis
New York Magazine, July 2015

The Cage of You
Granta, summer 2015

Ecce Homo Harper’s, September 2014

Hope Against Schope
Bookforum, February/March 2013

Fifty Shades of Beige
How E.L. James created an unlikely cottage industry in sanitized s/m
Bookforum, September/October/November 2012

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them
Making sense of Colton Burpo’s heavenly vision
Bookforum, April/May 2012

Vox Gravitatis
A Review of Elena Passarello’s Let Me Clear My Throat
Gulf Coast, Summer/Fall 2013

Cold Water in Texas
Fightland, March 2013

Pretty Citadel
The Paris Review, No. 198, Fall 2011

Cult Hero
How Dwight Macdonald became a Macdonaldist
Bookforum, Fall 2011

Borne Ceaselessly Into the Future
The Wall Street Journal, July 2011

Until Death Do Us Part
The New York Times Magazine, July 2010

Liberation Impasse
Taking Ambivalent Measure of the Legacy of Modern Feminism
Bookforum, Summer 2010

“Are You the Bitch Everyone Says You Are?”
How Kathleen Parker became America’s most-read woman columnist.
The American Prospect, November 2009

Welcome Guest Workers
Ideas: Fixing the world.
The Atlantic, July/August 2009

Guests in the Machine
Reason, January 2008

Who Owns Your Body?
Reason, March 2007

Ova for Sale
The art of the deal in the gray market for human eggs
Reason, October 2006