#the-atlantic

#the-atlantic

Tracy Kidder devoted his career to immersion: embedding himself for months, sometimes years, with his subjects, and turning what he saw into stories that are hard to put down.

Silent reading was so uncommon before the Middle Ages that Saint Augustine devoted space in his fourth-century C.E. Confessions to how astounded he was by the way his mentor's eyes 'ran over the columns of writing and his heart searched out the meaning, but his voice and his tongue were at rest.'

Henry is joining us as a staff writer. He comes to us from Slate, where he covered housing, infrastructure, and urban life. In more than a decade on that beat, some of his many memorable stories include an account of his battle with knotweed, an urban planning diary of the Paris Summer Olympics, an investigation into why Americans don't live in hotels anymore (but should!), and a 99% Invisible episode about kids who get around town by themselves.

I didn't leave out of any unhappiness. ... The Washington Post has given me everything I've got in this life. Not just money, but purpose and an education. It was very formative. I went to work there at 24 years old, I was there for a sum total of 30 years. So I didn't leave out of unhappiness.

Vivian Salama is joining The Atlantic as a staff writer as part of an expansion focusing on reporting in national defense, technology, and global conflict.