Happy Thanksgiving from The New Yorker

Holidays present a challenge for journalists, who, every year, have to come up with a new angle on the same old subject. Thanksgiving, in this respect, might actually be the best of the holidays: it’s so intrinsically weird that coming up with new angles is easy. Here’s a small selection of Thanksgiving stories (and covers) from our archive.

Talking Turkey,” by Bill Buford (November 20, 2006). Buford learns about the pleasures and dangers of raising your old wild turkeys. (The dangers are serious: when one turkey attacks, its wrath is “bottomless.”)

The General,” by Ben Ryder Howe (December 12, 2005). When it opened its home to a foreign guest, a Connecticut family expected “a Fulbright scholar, or maybe a diplomat.” The guest turns out to be an Iraqi general.

Wonton Lust,” by Calvin Trillin (December 2, 1996). Arguing that “Christmas and Thanksgiving are too close together to be celebrated by similar blowouts,” Trillin advocates an alternative Thanksgiving meal of duck with flowering chives.

Thanks” (October 8, 1984). An attempt to take Thanksgiving global, as “World Gratitude Day.”

Magical Dinners,” by Chang-Rae Lee (November 22, 2010). The adventure of an immigrant Thanksgiving.

A selection of Thanksgiving covers from our archive: