Esquire Magazine's 7 Greatest Stories

About four years ago or so Esquire magazine published a list of what it termed its seven greatest stories. They're all good. Here's the list (links to the full or the print versions):

• The School The story of the Chechen terrorist seizure of a city school in Beslan, Russia, which resulted, after three days of horror, in the deaths of at least 385 people, including 186 children, and many hundreds wounded.  This is the story from inside the school. The Beslan massacre was the second worst terrorist attack in modern history; it ended on September 3, 2004, almost eight years ago to the day of this post.
• The Falling Man An iconic photograph exists of a man falling from the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- he was perhaps one of several hundred who jumped or fell.  This article tells about attempts to identify the man, the duties of journalists, the reactions of the public, and the responses of the families of victims. Like the Beslan masacre, timely: it's just a five days short of 11 years ago
• What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now? Ted Williams as bloviating egoist, a man who hates to lose, who worked his way from poverty to star to apparent hater of fans but secret lover of adoration, who's a hothead, a fisherman, the last major leaguer to hit over .400, a man with 521 lifetime homeruns, and a man who YELLS EVERY OTHER DAMN PHRASE. 
• Frank Sinatra Has a Cold Frank Sinatra is not interested in being interviewed. Frank Sinatra is very busy.  "Frank Sinatra is Il Padrone. Or better still, he is what in traditional Sicily have long been called uomini rispettati -- men of respect." Frank Sinatra is a hothead -- no, he's not so much like Ted Williams -- Frank Sinatra is mercurial. Frank Sinatra was a singer the way Ted Williams was a hitter. 
• M "M" is Army company M; this article tells the story of the wrap-up of its training at Fort Dix and assignment to Vietnam in 1965-66, where several soldiers were killed, several Viet Cong were killed, and apparently a lot of Vietnamese houses were burnt down.
• The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes! An over-the-top take from 1965 on Junior Johnson -- a stock car racer who learned to drive running moonshine whiskey for his Dad (Junior was subsequently pardoned by Ronald Reagan for a moonshining conviction) and was actually known by the nickname "The Last American Hero." Indirectly, this is a profile of the "new South" in 1965, while it was still the nascent "new South" -- today, of course, the "new South" is slowly, sadly becoming the "old south" again.
• Superman Comes to the Supermarket Ostensibly a profile of John F. Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic Presidential nominating convention -- written and published just before he was elected, and with the evident though not explicit goal to help in that end -- this is really a vehicle for Norman Mailer to ruminate on politics and the United States. An enjoyable read, but not informative if you really want to know the ins and outs.