Animal Vigilance

This year's anthology of finalists and winners of the National Magazine Awards includes Ta-Nehisi Coates's much-discussed and debated "The Case For Reparations" (The Atlantic), Amanda Hess's explosive report on Internet sexual harassment (Pacific Standard), John Jeremiah Sullivan's account of the intergenerational effort to solve one of American music's greatest mysteries (New York Times Magazine), and Pamela Colloff's haunting profile of the Texas state employee assigned to witness close to three hundred executions (Texas Monthly). The anthology also features articles chosen from Chris Offutt's savory food writing (Oxford American), Rebecca Traister's acerbic musings on gender politics (New Republic), and Jerry Saltz's fearless art and architectural criticism (New York). Roger Angell offers humorous reflections on life at ninety (The New Yorker); Jody Rosen mourns the dying art of being a London taxi driver who instinctually knows his route (New York Time Magazine); Jeff Sharlet exposes Russia's unconscionable treatment of homosexuals (GQ); and Emily Yoffe reveals the unforeseen crimes committed in the struggle to address the college rape crisis (Slate). The collection concludes with a work of fiction by Haruki Murakami, who imaginatively plays with the legend of Scheherazade (New Yorker).