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Best New Yorker Articles of 2008

Explore 47 featured picks from The New Yorker's 2008 issues.

47 picks · 47 issues · Top author: Lauren Collins (3)

Most featured section: A Reporter at Large

Featured Picks

The Envoy
Samantha Power · A Reporter at Large · January 7

The United Nations’ doomed mission to Iraq.

Wakefield
E. L. Doctorow · Fiction · January 14

Man moves into his garage attic.

Ash Monday
T. Coraghessan Boyle · Fiction · January 21

Short story about two neighbors in a California canyon, a thirteen-year-old boy, Dill, who lives with his mother, and a Japanese man, Sanjuro, who lives …

Lifting the Veil
Calvin Tomkins · Profiles · January 28

Old Masters, pornography, and the work of John Currin.

Beppe’s Inferno
Tom Mueller · Letter from Italy · February 4

A comedian’s war on crooked politics.

The Birthday Party
James B. Stewart · Profiles · February 11

How Stephen Schwarzman became private equity’s designated villain.

Big Foot
Michael Specter · A Reporter at Large · February 25

An excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter, Michael Specter wrote, in 2008.

The Lost Children
Margaret Talbot · A Reporter at Large · March 3

Margaret Talbot on what tougher detention policies mean for the children of undocumented immigrants, from the March 3, 2008, issue of the magazine.

The Other Obama
Lauren Collins · Profiles · March 10

Before the 2008 elections, Lauren Collins profiled Michelle Obama, the wife of Barack Obama and future First Lady.

Picturing Auschwitz
Alec Wilkinson · A Reporter at Large · March 17

What does a recently found photo album reveal?

The Region of Unlikeness
Rivka Galchen · Fiction · March 24

Short story, written in the first person, about a female graduate student who becomes involved with two older men who are interested in the science of time…

Pomegranate Princess
Amanda Fortini · Profiles · March 31

Lynda Resnick’s eye for a product.

Secrets of the Deep
John Colapinto · A Reporter at Large · April 7

John Colapinto on a dispute over a colonial-era shipwreck that may hold the largest treasure ever recovered from the sea.

The Petition
Jane Kramer · Our Local Correspondents · April 14

Israel, Palestine, and a tenure battle at Barnard.

Up and Then Down
Nick Paumgarten · Our Local Correspondents · April 21

Nick Paumgarten’s 2008 story about a Nicholas White, who got stuck on an elevator, and the history of elevators and city life.

Crazy English
Evan Osnos · Letter from China · April 28

The national scramble to learn a new language before the Olympics.

Street Scene
Dana Goodyear · Letter from Los Angeles · May 5

Hollywood arrives on Skid Row.

Pixel Perfect
Lauren Collins · The World of Fashion · May 12

Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.

The Bribe
Peter J. Boyer · A Reporter at Large · May 19

How the Mississippi lawyer who brought down Big Tobacco overstepped.

The Fall of Conservatism
George Packer · The Political Scene · May 26

Have the Republicans run out of ideas?

The Rebellion Within
Lawrence Wright · A Reporter at Large · June 2

An Al Qaeda mastermind questions terrorism.

The Running Novelist
Haruki Murakami · Life and Letters · June 9

Haruki Murakami on learning how to go the distance as a writer and a runner.

Fidel’s Heir
Jon Lee Anderson · A Reporter at Large · June 23

The influence of Hugo Chávez.

The Brass Ring
Connie Bruck · The World of Business · June 30

A multibillionaire’s relentless quest for global influence.

The Island in the Wind
Elizabeth Kolbert · A Reporter at Large · July 7

A Danish community’s victory over carbon emissions.

Making It
Ryan Lizza · The Political Scene · July 21

How Chicago shaped Obama.

Dr. Kush
David Samuels · A Reporter at Large · July 28

How medical marijuana is transforming the pot industry.

The Olympian
David Remnick · Profiles · August 4

How China’s greatest musician will win the Beijing Games.

Changing Lanes
Elizabeth Kolbert · Comment · August 11

Comment about rising gas prices and John McCain’s changing campaign strategy. Late last month, Sen. John McCain went up with a new TV ad, “Pump,” …

Awake
Tobias Wolff · Fiction · August 25

Short story by Tobias Wolff about a Columbia College junior and his doubts about himself and his Russian girlfriend as they lie in bed together.

Show People
Richard Avedon · Portfolio · September 1

Reporting, Profiles, daily news, cultural coverage, podcasts, videos, and cartoons from The New Yorker.

Why Me?
Ian Parker · Profiles · September 8

Ian Parker’s profile of Alec Baldwin: “Relentlessly self-critical, Baldwin says, ‘I don’t think I really have a talent for movie acting.’ ”

The Home Team
Peter Hessler · Letter from Beijing · September 15

How the Chinese experienced the Olympics.

The Noble Truths of Suffering
Aleksandar Hemon · Fiction · September 22

Short story about a Bosnian man’s encounter with a famous American novelist in Sarajevo. The American Ambassador’s house in Sarajevo was a huge, ugly …

The Last Tour
William Finnegan · A Reporter at Large · September 29

A decorated marine’s war within.

In the Ring
Norman Mailer · Life and Letters · October 6

Grappling with the twentieth century.

The Oracle
Lauren Collins · Profiles · October 13

The many lives of Arianna Huffington.

A Desert Encounter
John Updike · Life and Letters · October 20

LIFE AND LETTERS in which the author describes an encounter following the loss and recovery of his hat. One day, while wintering in the Southwest, the …

Undecided
David Sedaris · Shouts & Murmurs · October 27

SHOUTS AND MURMURS about undecided voters. As we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign, the focus shifts to the undecided voters. I look …

The Grammar of Fun
Tom Bissell · Annals of Technology · November 3

CliffyB and the world of the video game.

The Bright Side
Ian Parker · Profiles · November 10

The relentless optimism of Thomas Friedman.

The New Liberalism
George Packer · The Political Scene · November 17

How the economic crisis can help Obama redefine the Democrats.

Sharper
Todd Oppenheimer · Our Far Flung Correspondents · November 24

Bob Kramer and the secret lives of knives.

Anatomy of a Meltdown
John Cassidy · A Reporter at Large · December 1

Ben Bernanke and the financial crisis.

The Rap
Ian Frazier · Our Local Correspondents · December 8

Keeping hip-hop safe from crime.

Making Toast
Roger Rosenblatt · Personal History · December 15

After a daughter dies, a new life with her children.

The Privilege of the Grave
Mark Twain · American Notes · December 22

Free speech from beyond the grave

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