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Bill Donahue is a writer for Outside, Harper’s, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and more…

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September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 by Bill Donahue

The Free and The Brave

A patriotic parade, a bloody brawl, and the origins of U.S. law enforcement’s war on the political left.

The Atavist
Edited by Jonah Ogles


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August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 by Bill Donahue

Mill Town

In Jay, Maine, the paper mill has been the lynch pin of the economy since the 1880s. And now it may close.

The Boston Globe Magazine
Edited by Michael Fitzgerald and Francis Storrs

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March 13, 2019August 2, 2019 by Bill Donahue

Sh*thole World Tour

A  deep dive into the culture and magic and pain of three countries that Trump maligned with an obscenity–Haiti, El Salvador, and Liberia. 

The Washington Post Magazine
Edited by David Rowell

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February 25, 2017October 9, 2017 by Bill Donahue

Painting the Fence

The joys and agonies of maintaining the picket fence at my family’s ancient home in New Hampshire. 

Yankee 
Edited by Ian Aldrich. Illustration by Cindy Rizza.

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July 4, 2016October 10, 2017 by Bill Donahue

Runaway

Of the hundred slaves to toil for President George Washington, Ona Judge was the only one to escape and tell her story.

Amazon Kindle Singles
Edited by Ali Castleman.

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June 29, 2015October 10, 2017 by Bill Donahue

Rise of a Running Nation

Lon Myers was the greatest American runner of the nineteenth century and also a Sephardic Jew. In 1882, he ran a series of three one-on-one footraces against England’s best runner, Walter George, at the Polo Grounds, in New York City.

Runner’s World
Edited by Christine Fennessy. Illustrations by Bruce Emmet.

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March 23, 2014October 9, 2017 by Bill Donahue

The Hero’s March

Searching for the ghost of Russian novelist Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41) in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia.

The Washington Post Magazine
Edited by David Rowell. Photographs by Oleg Gritskevich.

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March 27, 2013October 9, 2017 by Bill Donahue

Naked Joe

In August, 1913, pudgy middle-aged Joe Knowles stepped naked into the woods of Maine, to see if he could live as a primitive man. When he returned home to Boston two months later, clad in a bearskin,  200,000 people greeted him.

Boston Magazine
Edited by Toby Lester.

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November 13, 2011October 9, 2017 by Bill Donahue

The Secret World of Saints

Inside the Catholic Church and the mysterious process of anointing the holy dead.

Byliner Originals
Edited by Laura Hohnhold.

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© 2021 Bill Donahue. All rights reserved.

Site photography:
Cycling in the hills of New Hampshire, by Hector Emanuel.
Cross country skiing in the Alaskan Arctic, by Otso Könönen.
Interviewing Syrian refugees in Idomeni, Greece, by Julius Motal.
Among the Maasai in Kenya, by Georgina Goodwin.
At the desk, by Julie Keefe.
Outside the barn, by Michele Olvera.
Scrambling across Thompson Peak boulder field, by Justin Garwood.

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