Sidney Awards: David Brooks’ Best Essays Of 2009 Includes No Women

What can we learn about New York Times columnist David Brooks through his favorite essays of the year, published annually as The Sidney Awards? Well, he loves The New Yorker, paid special attention to the health care debate and, uh… doesn’t read the work of too many women. Or he, at least, isn’t highlighting it.

“In an age of zipless, electronic media, the idea is to celebrate (and provide online links to) long-form articles that have narrative drive and social impact,” wrote Brooks about the Sidneys

Out of the six essays Brooks selected as his first batch of Sidney winners (another group will be published Tuesday), all were written by men. “I try not to give Sidneys to the same people year after year, but the fact is, talent is not randomly distributed,” wrote Brooks in Friday’s print edition. But such a claim takes on new meaning when you consider the gender make-up of the brief list.

Which is to say nothing of the quality of the journalism selected, because it is all stellar. Links below:

“The Cost Conundrum,” What a Texas town can teach us about health care. The New Yorker
by Atul Gawande

“How American Health Care Killed My Father,” The Atlantic
by David Goldhill

“If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care,” Fasten your seat belts — it’s going to be a bumpy flight. National Journal
by Jonathan Rauch

“Trial by Fire,” Did Texas execute an innocent man? The New Yorker
by David Grann

“A Rake’s Progress,” Marion Barry bares (almost) all. The Weekly Standard
by Matt Labash

“Rediscovering Central Asia,” The Wilson Quarterly
by S. Frederick Starr

Read Brooks’ reasoning here, and check back Tuesday for another set. Here’s to hoping for some gender diversity.