Dan Barry

It's a Dickensian tale: intellectually disabled men living in an old schoolhouse in a tiny Iowa farm town, reporting every dawn to eviscerate turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. Told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is a clarion call for a vigilance that ensures inclusion and dignity for all.

"In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and on the eve of a national recession, New York Times writer Dan Barry launched a column about America: not the one populated only by cable-news pundits, but the America defined and redefined by those who clean the hotel rooms, tend the beet fields, endure disasters both natural and manmade. As the name of the president changed from Bush to Obama to Trump, Barry was crisscrossing the country, filing deeply moving...

The 72 columns selected here by editor Dan Barry, more than half of which have not been reprinted since initial publication, reveal Breslin at his best, addressing stories of national and global importance but more often uncovering tales of ordinary New Yorkers, by turns tragic or absurd but always gripping to read. Gathered here are the highlights of his consummate deadline artistry: his celebrated interview with the man who dug the grave for John...