This year's selection includes William Langewiesche's probing investigation in "Vanity Fair" of the slaughter of twenty-four Iraqis in Haditha; C. J. Chivers's chilling account in "Esquire" of the 2004 hostage crisis in Beslan, which killed 331 people, 186 of them children; Susan Casey's revelation in "Best Life" of a virtually unknown, Texas-sized garbage dump resting at the bottom of the Pacific ocean; and Andrew Corsello's harrowing portrait in "GQ" of Robert Mugabe's mad rule and two men-a white farmer and a fiery black priest-who strive for forgiveness instead of hate.

The collection also includes Vanessa Grigoriadis's hilarious portrait of fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld in "New York Magazine"; Christopher Hitchens's profile of survivors of Agent Orange in "Vanity Fair"; Sandra Tsing Loh's coverage of the stay-at-home-mommy debate in the "Atlantic Monthly"; Paul Theroux's thoughts on the dangers of anthropomorphism and our misconceptions about birds in the "Smithsonian"; Janet Reitman's unraveling of the mysteries of Scientology in "Rolling Stone"; and the work of nine other exceptional writers.

This book is on these lists:

• May 2013 Indie Next List
• April 2013 Indie Next List
• March 2013 Indie Next List