Creative Tension

By Stephen Fried The Washington Post Magazine April 16, 1995 Kay Jamison slouches her lanky frame over the lectern, looks up through her blond bangs, and delivers a bold second opinion on the medical condition of a world-renowned patient. Her insights come about a...

Scroll Man

By Stephen Fried The Washington Post Magazine May 10, 1992 It began, like too many change-of-life stories do, with an uncompleted novel. This novel was about King Saul, and, lo, it was bad. In fact, it was very bad. “It was abominable,” recalls its author, “an...

Cocktail Hour

By Stephen Fried The Washington Post Magazine May 18, 1997 “You want to see it?” Emilio Emini offers to show me the enzyme on which he bet 10 years of his virology career and a billion dollars of his company’s money. Rising from his desk, Emini, who is tall, dark and...

The Better Man

By Juan Williams The Washington Post Magazine May 17, 1987 When I was a little boy, the one event I dreamed of seeing in person was a big prizefight. Other sports were on television or available to a kid who wanted to sell Cokes. The big fights were in exotic places...