Road Work (2004)

''I was a newspaper reporter because I wanted to write, and it was a place where you got paid to do it,'' writes Mark Bowden in the introduction to this collection of almost a quarter century of his journalism. That doesn't mean his writing is better than his reporting — the Black Hawk Down author excels at both. With fascinating features on Norman Mailer, the war against terror, and even a Philadelphia Zoo gorilla, Bowden's range is broad. In the two standout stories, Bowden follows leukemia patients on a trip to Disney World and profiles a vivacious man whose bipolar disorder drives him to suicide. With heartbreaking detail, both pieces reveal Bowden's most effective reporting tool: empathy.