You Can't Go Home Again

American volunteers joined western allies in the fight to dismantle the Islamic State in Syria. What happened when they came back?

The Illusion of Perfect Protection

I once bought a bulletproof vest to keep me safe from ammunition, but these days, what would keep me safe from other people?

Under Lockdown in Italy’s Coronavirus-Quarantine Zone

Feltre, in northern Italy, is the ideal town for those who are interested in shutting out the rest of the world. As the coronavirus spreads in the country, its residents are now trying to do exactly that.

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(American Society of Journalists and Authors COVID-19 Writing Awards, Honorable Mention, Personal Essays)

'Walls Often Fail; They Have Unintended Consequences'

As America argues about the country’s perimeter defenses, Iraq and Syria grapple with a wall of their own, one that’s keeping people safe—and tearing them apart. Our writer journeys across the divide.

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(Featured on PRI's The World. Finalist for the Livingston Award in international reporting and for the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award.)

The Body-Pullers of Raqqa

In Syria, thousands of bodies are buried in shallow graves around the city. How one group is using Facebook and Google Earth to identify human remains and rebury them where they belong.

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(Featured in Longform and the Gadget Lab podcast. Finalist for the Livingston Award in international reporting and for the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award.)

The Devil's Henchmen

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Arabic Version

Iraqi forces have killed thousands of Islamic State fighters. In death, what do they deserve? Seeking answers in the ruined city of Mosul, Kenneth R. Rosen unearths a terrible crime.

(Winner of the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents and a Clarion Award.

Finalist for the Livingston Award. Featured in Longform.)

Under Lockdown in Italy’s Coronavirus-Quarantine Zone

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Preparing Prisons for Passover in a Plague Year 

‘I Was Not Going to Accept It’: After Captivity, Blind Syrian Forges Path to U.S.

The Untold Quiet of Kurdish Iraq

ISIS Damages Temple of Baal in Palmyra

Inside The Haywire World of Beirut's Electricity Brokers

Building Fences

There’s Been a Global Increase in Armed Groups. Can They Be Restrained?

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In the United States, His Problem Wasn’t the Taliban. It Was Everything Else.

An Ominous Future for Kurdistan's Minorities

A Harsh Homecoming

How Germany's refugee dream soured

Iraq’s ancient splits widen: why the Kurds voted to secede

Letter From Qaraqosh: Taking ISIS Fighters to Court

Letter From Mosul: The Future of Iraq's Shiite Militias After ISIS' Defeat

The meteorite hunters: the booming trade in space rocks

The waterkeeper of Iraq

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The New York Times

• "Federal Inquiry Scrutinizes Chattanooga Gunman’s Travel and Texts"

• "After 2 Years of Hoping, Upstate New York Family Has Few Leads on Man Who Vanished"

• "A Columbia County Nest That Came Fully Feathered"

• "Wes Craven, Whose Slasher Films Terrified Millions, Dies at 76"

• "John C. Willke, Doctor Who Led Fight Against Abortion, Dies at 89"

• "A Text That Read ‘Active Shooter,’ Then Silence

• "A Racket Maestro Makes His Yearly Migration"

• "ReBar, Once a Brooklyn Wedding Destination, Is Now a Neighborhood Blight"

• [... more]

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New York Magazine

• "An Exemplary Abjection Rejection"

• "Roomba’s Long, Bumpy Path From Prototype to Your Living Room"

Tin House

• "On J.R. Moehringer's 'The Tender Bar'"
   

The Rumpus

• "Out The Road"

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Narratively

• "She Had An Abortion Without Telling Me.
  Is That Ok?"

• "The Night My Parents Had Me Kidnapped"

• "Drunken Expectations"

• "True Lies" 

• [... more]

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Brooklyn Based

• "The Lobster Shift"

• [all columns]

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Anxy

• "Every Day Was Striking"

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HuffPost

• [Archive]

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Roads & Kingdoms

• "Tel Aviv Vibes on a Cloudy Brooklyn Day"

"Lands of Metamorphosis" columnist and contributing writer on the Middle East.

Could Fresh Faces Prevail in Lebanon's Elections?

'They Are In a State of In-Between": What Life is Like For Sudanese Refugees in Israel

The Abysmal State of Health Care for Palestinian Refugees

After The Election, It's Government As Usual in Lebanon

In Northern Syria, Residents Balk at Turkish Threats

In Post-Election Iraq, a Sense of Political Fatigue Lives On

The European fighters who battled Isis – and were abandoned by their governments 

After ISIS

[...more]

The Atlantic

• "A Degree in Beer, Wine, and Kombucha"

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Pacific Standard Magazine

• "You Can't Stay Here (but the Alternatives Are Better)"

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Guernica

• "When a Clean Record Can’t Change its Spots"

• "The Case For Expungement"

• "Spice Use There, is Drug Use Everywhere"

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VICE

• "Talking to Two Federal Drug Offenders About Getting Out Early"

• "How America’s Criminal Justice System Traps Low-Level Offenders"

• "Why Is New York’s Juvenile Justice System Still Such a Disaster?"​

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Village Voice

• "Barry Boonshaft Just Wants His Fashion Due"

Playboy

• "Alone Together in Patagonia"

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Hazlitt

• "The Lucky Ones"

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Creative Nonfiction

• "Addiction Memoir, or Coming-of-Age Tale?"

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Outside Magazine

• "An Ode to the Imperfect, 21st-Century American Cabin"

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Nowhere Magazine

• "Wuthering Travels"

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The Big Roundtable

• "When a Felon Casts Her Vote"

• "Notes From My Suicide"

• [... more]

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The Atticus Review

• "Flying Solo: A Snapshot of Travel Anxiety"

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Mr. Beller's Neighborhood

• "Revo, Like Revolution"