It’s an adage among parents—and editors—that they should love all their children equally. How, then, are the editors of Alta Journal to pick the biggest (or “best”) stories of the past year? It’s an impossible task. We editors all have our favorites. As do our readers. And no matter what list we come up with, we’re likely to be pilloried by some readers for missing their favorites. To get around this subjectivity problem, we turned to our audience. We weighed reader response, internet traffic, and social media engagement to build a consensus among our staff. So, with trepidation and a lot of intestinal fortitude, we present the five biggest stories of 2025.
Alta Folio: “I Went Southwest", by Brad Rassler
Lew Welch was one of the great Beat poets but one most people have never heard of. A college roommate of Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen’s, Welch wrote extraordinary poems that should have made him a household name. Instead, he’s better known for his self-destructive ways and mysterious disappearance in 1971. Published as a special pullout booklet, “I Went Southwest” is a definitive account of the disappearance and afterlife of Welch.
“25 Books That Define California,” by Alta Staff and Contributors
This special section about the novels that best describe life in the Golden State was a delightful crowd-pleaser. To choose the titles, we surveyed 50 authors, critics, and booksellers about California literature and received more than 200 nominations. We then narrowed those to the 25 works of fiction that received the most votes. Anchored by an extraordinary essay by critic and host of Alta’s California Book Club John Freeman, this section celebrating 25 novels ranging from Ask the Dust to Devil in a Blue Dress to The Joy Luck Club continues to arouse readers’ passions and provoke debate.
“The ‘Undesirables’,” by Nicole Garcia and David Wolman
Helen Grace James is one of more than 30,000 men and women who, beginning in the McCarthy era, were kicked out of the military on charges of homosexuality. This moving account of James’s fight for an honorable discharge for herself and other affected veterans resonated with our readers and social media followers. The article was published online at the end of 2024, a few weeks prior to a historic legal settlement between the Pentagon and those service members discharged on the basis of their sexual orientation. Notably, the settlement was reached just weeks before President Donald Trump took office.
“The Battle Over Black Bears,” by Jordan Fisher Smith
“Bears, bears, everywhere” might have been the refrain this year among the humans living around Lake Tahoe. News accounts of home invasions, vehicle break-ins, and a fatality seemed to dominate the headlines as some of these large ursine creatures sought human food. Battle lines were quickly drawn between those seeking to euthanize the repeat-offender bears and those who wanted to save them. We published this deeply reported article in the spring, when bears were leaving hibernation and things were about to get very messy.
“Highway 89 Revisited,” by Peter Fish
Alta’s summer issue offered a celebration of road trips through a series of beautifully written articles, which were accompanied by gorgeous photography. Our coverage was led by Peter Fish’s narrative of driving south 1,400 miles from the U.S.-Canada border near Montana’s Glacier National Park to Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon. His travelogue lit up our web traffic and drove massive social engagement. Long journeys such as this one are often remembered more for the path than the destination. Fish’s two-week trip—during which he confronts a family secret while exploring the majesty of Highway 89—proves the truth of that saying.•
Blaise Zerega is Alta Journal's editorial director. His journalism has appeared in Conde Nast Portfolio (deputy editor and part of founding team), WIRED (managing editor), the New Yorker, Forbes, and other publications. Additionally, he was the editor of Red Herring magazine, once the bible of Silicon Valley. Throughout his career, he has helped lead teams small and large to numerous honors, including multiple National Magazine Awards. He attended the United States Military Academy and New York University and received a Michener Fellowship for fiction from the Texas Center for Writers.
