In tones plummy

New York Times columnist David Brooks hands one of his "Sidney Awards" to New Yorker writer Adam Gopni for best magazine essays of the year. It is well deserved.

Here's a slice of Gopni's inspired writing, a passage from "Finest Hours - The making of Winston Churchill":

"At that moment when all seemed lost, something was found, as Winston Churchill pronounced some of the most famous lines of the past century. 'We shall go on to the end,' he said defiantly, in tones plummy and, on the surviving recordings, surprisingly thick-tongued. 'We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' Churchill’s words did all that words can do in the world. They said what had to be done; they announced why it had to be done then; they inspired those who had to do it."

Gopni describes his protagonist this way: "Churchill is a kind of Hamlet in reverse, a man who was called on, late in life, to do the one thing he was uniquely able to do, and did it." Perfect. To date, Gopnik has won three National Magazine Awards, and a George Polk Award. It is easy to see why. Bravo.