The Best Business Writing 2012

An anthology Malcolm Gladwell has called "riveting and indispensable," The Best Business Writing is a far-ranging survey of business's dynamic relationship with politics, culture, and life. This year's selections include John Markoff (New York Times) on innovations in robot technology and the decline of the factory worker; Evgeny Morozov (New Republic) on the questionable value of the popular TED conference series and the idea industry behind it; Paul Kiel (ProPublica) on the ripple effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis; and the infamous op-ed by Greg Smith, published in the New York Times, announcing his break with Goldman Sachs over its trading practices and corrupt corporate ethos.

Jessica Pressler (New York) delves into the personal and professional rivalry between former spouses and fashion competitors Tory and Christopher Burch. Peter Whoriskey (Washington Post) exposes the human cost of promoting pharmaceuticals for off-label uses. Charles Duhigg and David Barboza (New York Times) investigate Apple's unethical labor practices in China. Max Abelson (Bloomberg) reports on Wall Street's amusing reaction to the diminishing annual bonus. Mina Kimes (Fortune) recounts the grisly story of a company's illegal testing-and misuse-of a medical device for profit, and Jeff Tietz (Rolling Stone) composes one of the most poignant and comprehensive portraits of the financial crisis's dissolution of the American middle class.

“Whether readers are familiar with some of the news stories or not, this collection exposesbehaviors-both good and bad-along with their impacts, and leaves readers with much to think about.”

Phil Graham famously described journalism as 'the first rough draft of history,' but in an era of financial scandal and collapse, the business press has had to be something more: a guardian when government and other watchdogs fell by the wayside. This riveting collection of first rate pieces covers the waterfront from Apple to Pfizer, from debt default in Europe to bugging at News Corp. and, of course, the ongoing saga of foreclosures, bankers and regulators in America, updated with an inquiry into inequality and the '1%.' This volume of digestible-sized, stiletto-sharp stories will surprise the reader at how much he or she may have missed and reminds us all how momentous was the business world of 2011. -- Roger Lowenstein, author of The End of Wall Street A riveting cross-section of hard-hitting investigative journalism... The breadth, depth, and quality of writing are sure to engage a diversity of readers. Publishers Weekly ...this book presents revealing, and sometimes shocking, investigations. Library Journal Booklist ...an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to keep their finger on the pulse of the world economy. Midwest Book Review

Dean Starkman is editor of the Columbia Journalism Review's business section, The Audit, which tracks financial journalism in print and on the web, and is the magazine's Kingsford Capital Fellow. A reporter for two decades, he worked eight years as a Wall Street Journal staff writer and was chief of the Providence Journal's investigative unit. He has won numerous national and regional journalism awards and helped lead the Providence Journal to the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Investigations. Martha M. Hamilton is a former writer, editor, and columnist for the Washington Post who investigates complaints about financial journalism for CJR's "The Audit." She is also the author, along with former Post colleague Warren Brown, of Black and White and Red All Over. Ryan Chittum is deputy editor of CJR's The Audit. He's a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and has written for numerous other publications, including the New York Times. He is also a contributor to Bad News: How America's Business Press Missed the Story of the Century. His recent work can be seen at Felix Salmon is the finance blogger for Reuters. He arrived in the United States in 1997 from England, where he worked at Euromoney magazine. He also wrote daily commentary on Latin American markets for the former news service, Bridge News, and created the Economonitor blog for Roubini Global Economics.

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