The five best writers, period.

I can't believe no one mentioned John McPhee or John Schulian. Roy MacGreor in Canada. Did I miss Chris Jones?

 

What has Jones been up to? Maybe it's bc he disappeared from Twitter, where I was following him, but I haven't read anything by him in a long time.

 

I thought he had a book on Game Shows coming out soon. Looking forward to that one.

 

Mine in the business:

Albert Burneko - Hilarious and cynical about food and politics (and I only agree with his politics about 23% of the time).

Chris Jones - I appreciate the fastidious, almost clinical longform approach, but I also think there's just enough blarney in his stuff (you have to have just a little blarney) for it not to be exhausting.

Bonnie Ford - Just a terrific writer on subjects I wouldn't care that much about if she weren't writing about it. Puts the maze of drug testing elite athletes in some understandable, artful complex.

Manohla Dargis: Not the critic I agree with most but the one who can best examine and dissect with clarity and reasonable brevity. I think brevity is useful in criticism - it speaks to incisiveness. Plus, I think she's pretty definitive without being crude or creating some us vs. them worldview.

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Formidable writer whose magazine articles/arguments are so thorough and provocative that it forces lesser talents to either blithely fawn or lob insults, but whose book - which I encourage people to read - is just a really good, meaty, sharply-written book.

I'll say this: I don't read that much war stuff anymore, so I'm mediocre there. I'm sure Mark Bowden is as great as everyone says he is.

 

Burneko is too cynical for me.

 

Did I miss the names Buster Olney, Wright Thompson, Jim Murray or Peter Gammons on this thread?

I don't want to say any of the names on this list should not be on this list, but I thought these four would be on here eventually.

 

Eli Saslow, Lane DeGregory. I love reading almost anything Dan Wetzel writes. Chris Jones. Baxter Holmes is an excellent writer and does some really good NBA work. I'm going to throw Eric Moskowitz's name in here for non-sports. Agree with the poster who made the comment about Hunter S. Thompson. Terry Southern, anyone?

 

I would hope so.

 

Bruce Arthur.

 

For the NBA, there is Zach Lowe and then there is everyone else. I will post 2 thru 5 after further review.

 

Karl Malone is very close to top 5.

 

Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer. Writes the Page 2 column every Sunday and he is on a 52-week roll of incredible topics presented in a compelling style.