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A fantastic list on what people love dubbing (erroneously, imho) a dying genre. Spanning five decades and plenty of well-known writers who you’ve probably read, exploring this could make for a lovely, languid weekend afternoon. David Foster Wallace leads the Top 25 with four superlative articles. If you’re in the mood for more, there are hundreds of the most beloved articles following the leading 25.
As Kevin Kelly explains it:
The following are suggestions for the best magazine articles (in English) ever. Stars denote how many times a correspondent has suggested it. Submitter comments are in italics. For a great way to read long-form magazine articles on a tablet device see my review of LongForm and Instapaper here.
This is a work in progress. It is a on-going list of suggestions collectively made by readers of this post. At this point the list has not been vetted or selected by me. In fact, other than the original five items I suggested, all of the articles mentioned here have been recommended by someone other than me. (Although I used to edit Wired magazine none of the article from Wired were suggested by me or anyone who worked at Wired. I also did not suggest my own pieces.)
This list is incomplete (as all such lists are) but way too long now. I am no longer accepting additions to the list, but I will accept “votes” for articles already on the list. articles@kk.org. Use this form to elevate a favorite article to the “top”.
Check the list out HERE.
(And thanks for the tip, Kevin Schlottmann!)
100% in agreement with you about the future of magazines (and to some degree, newspapers); just like Mr Twain, rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated. While I'm sure Gawker Media and their ilk would love thoughtful, well-researched articles like these to be entirely displaced by their semi-amateur digital tabloid style of journalism, I am optimistic that the magazine medium will evolve without sacrificing its content.