I would include "The Wedding Merchants" by Caitlin Flanagan for The Atlantic in Feb 2001.<p>All about how it's not actually traditional for weddings to be the expensive fancy extravaganzas they are today, and who made them that way and how they did it.<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/02/the-wedding-merchants/302092/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/02/the-wed...</a>
Paul Ford’s “What is Code?” for Bloomberg tech I think deserves a mention.<p>Super ambitious and rewarding. I tried to purchase a paper copy because I like it so much but felt ridiculous paying $80 for a magazine.
This is a trollish comment but do the DFW articles hold up?:<p>radio article - talk radio is for stupid people<p>cruise ship article - cruise ships are for fat people<p>Maine state fair article - tourism is for boring people<p>How much of his appeal was due to flattering the vanity of his readers?
These articles all seem very good, I still have fond memories of reading Neal Stephenson's article on optical fibres around the world (although I'm thought it was David Brin who wrote it)<p>However these all seem to be articles in American magazines, I assume there's a number of very good magazine articles in foreign magazines; although the US is known to have more magazines that focus on long form articles.
Great timing for this link, as I just found my e-reader in a random corner of my apartment after thinking I'd lost it while traveling! I'll be adding these to the reading queue.
I'm stumped... What makes these great? Is it excellent writing? -\0/-<p>Leafing through a few, they seemed pretty mediocre in terms of saying something new / teaching me something.
The Mastermind from The Atavist needs a mention here as well. The best series of articles I have read in a long, long time. Beware that they may take a lot of your time if you start. <a href="https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind" rel="nofollow">https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind</a><p>Also agrees on "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond" from The Atlantic
Clicked through looking for “The Last Shot” from Harper’s, 1993. Was not disappointed.<p>Article is re the perpetuation of impossible dreams at the cost of disposability of lives underpinning pro sports.<p>Includes the immortal line uttered by a kid dreaming of enough money to buy a Nissan Sentra: “That shit is milk.”
After we both read and enjoyed The voyeur's motel by Gay Talese (who didn't know before hand, being from outside of the US), my SO offered me his book Fame and Obscurity, which contains Sinatra's profile. The Bridge would probably appeal at a lot of folks here.
The Marriage Cure by Katherine Boo. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/08/18/the-marriage-cure" rel="nofollow">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/08/18/the-marriage-c...</a>
"High tech cowboys of the deep seas" should definitely be on the list<p><a href="https://www.wired.com/2008/02/ff-seacowboys/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wired.com/2008/02/ff-seacowboys/</a>