Love and Ruin: Tales of Obsession, Danger, and Heartbreak from,Magazine

by Evan Ratliff (Editor)

Extraordinary stories of crime, passion, and adventure from The Atavist magazine, the trailblazing leader in longform narrative writing.

Since its founding in 2011, The Atavist has garnered an unprecedented eight National Magazine Award nominations and was the first all-digital publication to win in feature writing. This collection presents the finest examples of a new kind of nonfiction storytelling as practiced by a young generation of longform experts. The collection includes Leslie Jamison’s landmark portrait of a lonely whale named “52 Blue,” Matthew Shaer’s harrowing account of a shipwreck during Hurricane Sandy, and James Verini’s prize-winning tale of romance and courage in Afghanistan.

The fascinating and original writing in Love and Ruin demonstrates why The Atavist has become the leader in publishing “remarkable . . . can’t look away pieces of multimedia journalism” (New York Times).

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Short Stories, History, Anthologies

432 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2016

About the author

Evan Ratliff is the editor of The Atavist magazine. His writing has appeared in Wired, where he is a contributing editor; The New Yorker; National Geographic; and other publications. He is also the story editor of Pop-Up Magazine, a live event.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you followed my notes and status reports, you know I LOVED this book. I've been looking for something like this for a long time: high-quality narrative nonfiction/longform journalism. I didn't realize, until I saw this book on the shelf at the library, that The Atavist magazine is just this sort of publication.

The book is a collection of pieces from The Atavist, richly varied and immersive. There was not an overarching theme here - other than writers and journalists who like to dig in to their subjects or into history - and I really liked that. Each story was about 60-75 pages long, and served as the perfect book to carry along with me on a long trip away from home. Since each piece is truly standalone, I will offer my ratings and a few comments on each piece.

Love and Ruin - 4.5 stars - American expatriates in Afghanistan - these people truly have a passion for the country, its people and its culture.

52 Blue - 5 stars (10 stars!) - My favorite of the book. The science and the culture of the very real whale who sings at a frequency that no other whale can hear. The blue whale, singing at 52 hertz is unable to communicate with fellow whales... and when this story was reported in scientific journals, what came next was truly amazing. A meditation on sound and being alone.

Fort of Young Saplings - 2 stars - Unmemorable for me... Very short compared to the other stories.

American Hippopotamus - 5 stars (9 stars!) - Second favorite in the book. What a crazy ride through history filled with larger-than-life (but all so real!) characters. Really loved this one!

Mother, Stranger 4 stars - Sad story about the author's mother and her struggle with mental illness.

When We Are Called to Part - 5 stars - A beautiful story about the remaining members of the leper colony on Moloka'i.

My Mother's Lover - 5 stars - A man retraces and rediscovers the pilot who his mother fell in love with during WWII. A very poignant look at love and the long shadow of history.

A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite - 2 stars - This one had an interesting plot, but failed to grab me early on. I skimmed it and skipped ahead. Other reviewers really liked it, so maybe it just wasn't the right time for me.

The Oilman's Daughter - 3.5 stars - Engaging read about a woman who discovers her birth father was a wealthy Texas oilman. It became tedious in the end with all the legal suits, etc.

Sinking of the Bounty - 4.5 stars - Real-life adventure story about the tall ship replica of the 18th-century HMS Bounty that set sail and ran straight into Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Stories from the survivors and the Coast Guard rescue - quite good to read.

...
This is such a special book and I highly recommend it! If any of these standalone pieces sound good to you, pick up the book OR you can read them all online. Just search the title and The Atavist.

[Aden Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology this book has its highs and lows, but it did give me some of the best essays I’ve ever read. I would recommend American Hippopotamus and A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite to anybody. S/o Jared Nelson for the recommendation and book loan!

[Shelby Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I randomly ran across this book in the public library. I had never before heard of "The Atavist Magazine", but I was in a reading rut and needed to break out. I love the skilled writing in this book, termed "long form non-fiction", about an eclectic variety of subject matter, from a lonely whale to a move in the United States Congress, following Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, to import hippopotami as a meat source, to the memoir about a bipolar, but loving, mother. I liked the book so much I wanted to subscribe to "The Atavist Magazine" but found it was online only. I usually prefer to have a hard copy in my hand but this book was such a treasure, I guess I will read the magazine online since I have no choice. I do heartily recommend the anthology "Love and Ruin" edited by Evan Ratliff. It's different!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

! won this book on Goodreads!
Never heard of The Atavist Magazine before I received this book. Now i check it out onlins all the time!
Journalism at its finest by gifted writes.

[Bea Bezmalinovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a print volume of stories that first appeared on the internet on Atavist.com (a story telling website that integrates various media in the story.) I picked the book up in Powell's in Portland, Oregon. It wasn't on my reading list, but I opened the book to a true story, "My Mother's Lover", and was hooked.

My favorite story was set in Fresno, the town in California where I grew up. Jahnos (Big John) Birges, an immigrant from Hungary, settles in Fresno. As things happen in Fresno, he settles in, gets married, and has kids. He and his wife operate a restaurant, the Villa Basque. Big John's wife dies and he becomes a little (!) unhinged. He starts gambling in Tahoe at Harvey's casino and racks up $300,000 in debt. He gets mad at the casino for various reasons. So, and here is where things get crazy, he steals 1000 pounds of dynamite from a local construction site. He builds a bomb that cannot defused and persuades his sons and two other colleagues to plant the bomb at Harvey's. He asks for $2-3 million in ransom.

Long story short, the FBI encases the bomb and blows it up in situ. Then, they track down Big John and everyone who helped him. They all spend time in jail.

It seems a very Fresno story. Don't get me wrong, Mom. I like Fresno, but there is something about Fresno that makes one think that all kinds of things can happen there because Fresno doesn't seem short of crazy, messed up people.

I like essays - Alice Munro sets the standard in my book - and I recommend this collection of offbeat essays are based on true stories, mostly about love, family, animals, and serendipity.

[Reading Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the genre (which I've called Creative Nonfiction but the head editor makes a strong case for renaming 'magpie journalism' in her intro). This is truly magpie in nature--there's something for every flavor of the genre--true crime, adventure, history, science and nature, travel, memoir--they're all in here.

You will start with an old school adventure, weaving modern politics in Afghanistan with a history of the Victorian scholar/adventurer, then journey to the poetic meaning of the 52 Hz blue whale, an elegy to a withering leper colony in Hawaii, eavesdrop on the FBI and the bomber they're trying to catch, run into two lushly painful investigations of family and mothers, and survive the sinking of the tall ship Bounty, among others. Each essay has a strong voice, prose so rich and evocative that it gives me new hope for the genre, and a strong presence--they have a story to tell and a shape to tell it in. This is not a book to zoom through--each essay demands your attention and heart, and each needs breathing space to digest.

I had not, I confess, heard of Atavist before picking up this volume (on a whim, at a visit to the Strand) but needless to say, I am now a devotee. I sincerely hope they release another volume.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this out of the library just before the beginning of summer, but had to put it aside until I finished my summer bookbingo because it didn't fit any category. What a treasure! I can't believe my library let me renew it so many times. More people need to know about this collection of long form articles from the online magazine The Atavist.

I was attracted by the cover and title, but stayed for the stories. There wasn't a dud in the bunch. Have you heard of 52 Hertz, the loneliest blue whale? What about the plan to raise hippopotamuses in Louisiana to solve the meat shortage before the advent of factory farms? Me neither, but now I do.

[Rennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno why this fell so flat for me, long-form nonfiction journalism is definitely up my alley. None of these really grabbed me though. I ended up skimming most when each one dragged one way too long, even for an essay. (Or has my attention span really become that short, even for long essays?!) I liked Leslie Jamison’s 52 Blue but I’m already familiar with that story. My Mother’s Lover was the only other one I thought was outstanding. I think this magazine probably publishes some excellent journalism and storytelling (I see they’ve got a story of Robert Kolker’s on the site now and he’s the best) but I’m not sure these were the best examples.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is bound to be an article in this you'd like. It covers memoirs, family investigation, animals, history, and crime. I have to say I enjoyed all of them. There was maybe one that at one point got a little slow but otherwise I was engaged and read through these pretty fast. It was good stuff!

[Hayley DeRoche · Rating 5 out of 5]

The absolute perfect read for nonfiction longread fans. The essays were almost all stellar and stayed with me (and were almost all the perfect bedtime read length), and I know I’ll be pushing this (& Atavist subscriptions) on friends and library patrons for years to come. LONGREADS FOREVER. LONG LIVE LONGREADS.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of the writers involved in this book I admire and follow, so this was a disappointment. The last few stories saved the first few. I am unsure how they selected, but they need a better process because there are so many good longform stories out there... and they selected maybe, at most, one or two of them for this book.

[Genna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this from the library's Blind Date With a Book program, where you pick a book wrapped in brown paper with a vague description written on it, check it out, and then take it home to see what it is.

I liked it! As with most collections, I liked some bits more than others, but, on the whole, this was fun to read and informative (and I didn't dislike any of it). I'm glad I picked it up.

[Susan Howson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some were five stars and some were three stars! I had trouble getting going (after the first excellent story, that is) but the latter half was a breeze. I think I’ve realized that I tend to like long form stuff like this that is about humans and what they do and feel. And less so ones about a thing or a concept. Listen, we’re all learning and growing here.

[Devin Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great longform stories in here, including Leslie Jamison's "52 Blue," which is a gorgeous essay on metaphor, loneliness, and a whale. Overall, there were some others that felt a little more of a slog.

[Chloe ♥︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great essays, and some I could have done without.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

52: The Search for the Loneliest Whale in the World

There is no way to find what we've been looking for, only--perhaps--to find what that thing has become.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of different stories very interesting in different ways

[Colleen Malloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few amazing stories, but some others I'd recommend skipping. Worth checking out for its namesake story, Love and Ruin.

[Jared Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptional collection of longform journalism/creative nonfiction/nonfiction narrative. Regardless of what you call it, if that's your thing, I highly recommend this book and Atavist Magazine.

[Loly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hm... Inte riktigt min smak..

[Jon Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of very interesting stories.

[Allyson Ferrari · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of these stories were really interesting and it was a great collection. I had never heard of The Atavist before this and now I definitely want to read more. I don't think there was a story in this collection that I wasn't invested in.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of quality narrative nonfiction originally published in The Atavist Magazine, Love and Ruin is a collection worth your time, money, and affection. I've been following The Atavist for a while, so I was familiar with their work and had high expectations. I bought myself the book for my birthday, let it sit for a while, and finally read it from cover to cover.

Each piece is focused on something entirely different. The only common thread is that described in the title and subtitle: Love and Ruin: Tales of Obsession, Danger, and Heartbreak. Each story is broken up into short "chapters" that make this easy to pick up and put down between meetings, over lunch breaks, and while traveling. The stories are distinct from each other in subject matter -- there's a story about the United States' last leper colony and one about a historic push to ranch hippopotamuses in the American Southwest (hence, the hippo on the cover). In some stories, the writer is an invisible observer. In others, he or she is part of the story.

I'm a big fan of narrative nonfiction, in general, because I enjoy stories more than data points and reading true stories feels like it has more utility than a collection of fiction (though I enjoy that as well). Love and Ruin certainly delivered on my expectations. Each story read smoothly. Rarely did I ever find myself rereading the same passage over and over again because I was confused or zoned out. The stories are gripping. Each one makes you sit back and wonder, Really? This happened in real life?

I intend to keep this on my shelf for a long time.

[Lisa Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this collection of essays, as I wasn't familiar with the writers. I didn't read the book in order, but chose stories randomly. Most of the writing was thought provoking and in no way a flat, non-fiction reporting of facts. Creative non-fiction flows cleanly from beginning to end, just as these essays did. It's hard to choose a favorite out of the collection, but When We Are Called to Part by Brooke Jarvis is certainly one of the top stories. It is about the last active leprosy colony in Hawaii. Jarvis treated the residents with compassion without turning them into pitiful victims. I learned a lot, enjoyed the tutorial and admired the people involved. While I'm not sure I would read this at the beach where people could see me cry, I would recommend this book for your summer reading list. Or winter list. Or just because you like picking up a good book.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an anthology of articles that appeared in the online magazine “The Atavist.” I’d never heard of it before I picked up the book, but it turned out I was familiar with some of the editor’s other work: his podcast “Longform” in which he interviews journalists about their craft. Most of the stories in the collection were about quirky tidbits in history, and two were personal family stories, but the biggest page-turner was of the true crime variety. If you like slightly off-beat non-fiction, you’ll like this collection. And if you generally prefer fiction to non-fiction, you may want to try this anyway. The stories are so character-driven, even the most die-hard devotee of fiction will enjoy them.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this in a giveaway here on Goodreads. There's some discussion in the introduction about what to call this type of writing: most of it doesn't quite feel like journalism, more like storytelling that just happens to be true. Some lean more toward memoir, while others are more like a reported magazine story. But several are unclassifiable, fascinating pieces about things I would never have guessed I'd have any interest in. Brooke Jarvis' piece about the last days of a leper colony in Hawaii, for instance -- who knew those still existed? -- is amazing and surprisingly affecting.

[John Haake · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I must comment the whole "The Atavist Magazine" and their mission. This book was an introduction to me of their online magazine -- I hope to enjoy more from them in the future.

I enjoyed each and every story in this collect for different reasons. They were all sad tales -- and I usually do not enjoy sad tales to much. This collection was the exception for me.

Not only was each true tale sad, it was also weird. Each weirdness factor in each story tickled my fancy in different ways. I love the trip -- and so will you.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads contest. The stories were all interesting and well written.
The collection was a mix of all different types of genres so anyone would be able to enjoy a few of the stories no matter what they liked to read.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

-36 (Book #64 explores the difference between obsession and curiosity. The true stories collected here were mostly mildly interesting, but the standout was AMERICAN HIPPOPOTAMUS by John Mooallem. Recommended only for those who enjoy history and long journalistic pieces.)

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all of these impeccably researched features were winners, but the ones that were blew me away. My favorites were The Sinking of the Bounty, When We Are Called To Part, 52 Blue and the title piece.