Great Reads

Bijan Robinson has emerged as one of Atlanta’s most dazzling athletes, combining jaw-dropping talent, singular charisma, and an increasingly iconic style of play—but can he become Atlanta’s next sports icon?

Thirty years ago, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy exchanged vows on Cumberland Island. Much has been lost since that time. And yet some things still stand, including First African Baptist Church—with a history few have known.

Thirty years after the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the people who transformed a long-shot bid into a global triumph reflect on the relationships, risks, and determination that helped make Atlanta an international city—and on the lasting impact the Games had on their own lives and careers.

Thirty years after the Olympics transformed downtown Atlanta, the World Cup is fueling another wave of development across the city’s core. Centennial Yards, South Downtown, new housing—the tournament’s biggest legacy may be the reshaping of downtown long after the final match ends.

Last week, dozens of women in brightly colored dresses showed up at the Swan Coach House to hear Trisha Addicks, America’s leading sorority recruitment coach, read from her new tome, The Rush Bible: Secrets to Crush Sorority Recruitment and Find Your Forever Greek Home (Simon & Schuster).

In this era of the HIV epidemic, talking saves lives. It pierces stigma and turns ordinary conversation into something lifesaving. Daniel Driffin, an Atlanta-based HIV activist and project manager with the international nonprofit the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, talks a lot. Armed with a PhD in public heath, he speaks on expert advisory panels and directly to people with HIV—both online and in person. In 2025, ongoing dialogue became more critical than ever.

Writer Tom Junod grew up in the long shadow of Big Lou—a dazzling, ruthless womanizer—and spent a decade excavating the myth of his father’s life. His new memoir is a reckoning with sex, power, and the inheritance every son must confront.

In 2021, beloved bartender Katie Janness was brutally murdered at the Charles Allen Gate entrance to Piedmont Park. With broken security cameras, no eyewitnesses, and few leads, the case remains unsolved nearly five years later.

An unrelenting drive to succeed took Tom Johnson from Macon to the White House to leading CNN during its glory years. But it also enabled him to avoid focusing on himself. Only in retirement has he found grace and a greater purpose.

On the cold night of November 10, 2023, The Reserve at LaVista Walk apartment complex went up in flames. Birthday fireworks led to a three-alarm fire that displaced more than 300 residents. It's one of three major roof fires that have destroyed Atlanta apartment complexes since 2020.