Tracy Kidder, who died last week at the age of 80, was a longtime contributor to The Atlantic and a writer of articles and books that served for many readers as timeless exemplars of what nonfiction writing could be. A headline announcing his death'Kidder, it said, 'turned unlikely subjects into bestsellers''had it right but also had it wrong. A number of Kidder's books, such as The Soul of a New Machine and Mountains Beyond Mountains, did indeed become best sellers. And the focus of these books'the inner secrets of computer design; medical care for those who have none'was not typical best-seller material. But the subjects Kidder was drawn to'computers and health care, but also the challenges and miracles of public-school classrooms; the inner workings of small cities and towns; the character of friendships in nursing homes; the ordeal of an immigrant who fled genocide in his homeland for life in America; the dynamics of homelessness and the experience of the unhoused'were far from...
learn more
