The New New Journalism: Conversations with America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft [Paperback]

Robert Boynton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 8, 2005 | ISBN-10: 140003356X | ISBN-13: 978-1400033560

Forty years after Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, and Gay Talese launched the New Journalism movement, Robert S. Boynton sits down with nineteen practitioners of what he calls the New New Journalism to discuss their methods, writings and careers.

The New New Journalists are first and foremost brilliant reporters who immerse themselves completely in their subjects. Jon Krakauer accompanies a mountaineering expedition to Everest. Ted Conover works for nearly a year as a prison guard. Susan Orlean follows orchid fanciers to reveal an obsessive subculture few knew existed. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc spends nearly a decade reporting on a family in the South Bronx. And like their muckraking early twentieth-century precursors, they are drawn to the most pressing issues of the day: Alex Kotlowitz, Leon Dash, and William Finnegan to race and class; Ron Rosenbaum to the problem of evil; Michael Lewis to boom-and-bust economies; Richard Ben Cramer to the nitty gritty of politics. How do they do it? In these interviews, they reveal the techniques and inspirations behind their acclaimed works, from their felt-tip pens, tape recorders, long car rides, and assumed identities; to their intimate understanding of the way a truly great story unfolds.

Interviews with:
Gay Talese
Jane Kramer*
Calvin Trillin
Richard Ben Cramer*
Ted Conover*
Alex Kotlowitz*
Richard Preston*
William Langewiesche*
Eric Schlosser
Leon Dash
William Finnegan
Jonathan Harr*
Jon Krakauer*
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Michael Lewis*
Susan Orlean
Ron Rosenbaum
Lawrence Weschler*
Lawrence Wright*

* Search our online catalog to find other titles by these Vintage and Anchor Books authors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Boynton uses the clunky moniker "new new journalism" to describe a group of reporters today who write article- and book-length examinations of their subjects, often pioneering new reporting techniques (such as Adrian Nicole Leblanc's trick of leaving her tape recorder with her subjects when she went home as a way of getting them to open up without her around--a method that worked to wonderful effect in her Random Family). Yet, Boynton points out, these writers also stay true to strict journalistic standards, unlike Tom Wolfe and the New Journalists, whose creative narrative methods broke all the rules. Many of the reporters Boynton highlights are also motivated by an activist impulse that informs but never overpowers their work. Boynton, the director of New York University's magazine journalism program, offers a nuts-and-bolts approach to understanding the way these reporters write, interviewing them on the smallest of details, such as how they organize their notes, what color pens they use and how they set ground rules with sources who aren't media savvy. Featuring lengthy discussions with star scribes such as William Langewiesche (American Ground) and Michael Lewis (Moneyball), this batch of discussions is a gold mine of technique, approach and philosophy for journalists, writers and close readers alike. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Building on the tradition of literary journalism--from nineteenth-century writers Lincoln Steffens and Stephen Crane through Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer--the latest practitioners continue to apply keen skills of social observation and to enjoy public acclaim that promises continued support for this predominantly American craft. Boynton offers interviews with 19 writers who detail how and why they produce their work: Alex Kotlowitz tends to stumble onto his subjects, Jon Krakauer hates interviewing people in restaurants, Leon Dash refuses to become emotionally involved with his subjects, Jane Kramer appreciates the stylistic prose of literary nonfiction writers, Richard Preston is mechanically inept and prefers to take notes rather than use a tape recorder, and Ron Rosenbaum prefers the typewriter to the computer. Interviewees also include Gay Talese, William Finnegan, Susan Orlean, and Lawrence Weschler. Boynton asks the writers how they get their ideas, conduct their research and interviews, and begin the writing process as well as their takes on the future prospects for literary journalism. A fascinating book that makes the reader want to go out and get every book the writers have written as well as those mentioned as sources of inspiration. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140003356X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400033560
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful interviews make for a great read August 12, 2005

By Sarah Williams

Format:Paperback

For any inspiring journalists or writers, avid readers, and followers of media trends in this country, this book is a great look into how journalists and writers do what they do.

The book is organized as a series of interview transcripts, asking each reporter how they do what they do. From "What is your daily routine?" to "How do you come up with ideas?" and "How do you decide who to interview?", the questions are very nicely worded to offer the reader the right information.

What emerges through the unique voices of each writer is a picture of creative non-fiction, a genre combining old-school reporting methods and forward-looking creative thinking and ways of presenting information.

This book is hard to read in one sitting, since the questions in each interview are pretty much the same and can get repetitive. However, it is a great book to pick up from time to time and read bits of and I certainly have loved working through it.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars a look inside . . . June 12, 2005

By erica2

Format:Paperback

If you want to know how those stylish writers at the New Yorker pull off those long, fascinating "fact" pieces, this is the book for you. The author has interviewed over a dozen of what he calls the "new new" journalists, and the interviews reveal some of their tricks of the trade, working methods, approach, attitude, etc. I think those who aspire to write in this way will get the most out of this book, because reading it is like sitting down with these top-flight journalists and picking their brains.

I give it 3 stars because it's not a work of art or anything . . . I mean, the same questions, more or less, are repeated in each interview, and the intro to each chapter distills information and quotes that follow in the chapter, so I don't see this book as being a grand literary achievement per se. But it's useful, and I came away from it with an increased appreciation of how hard these journalists work--sometimes staying with the same story for months or years, and putting hundreds or thousands of hours into one long article. (Of course, when they expand the article into a book, the time they invested continues to produce returns.) Anyway, if you are a journalist or are someone interested in the way high-level literary journalism is currently being carried out, you'll find what you're looking for in this paperback original.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Where (New) Journalism and Anthropology meet January 3, 2006

By Edward C. Green

Format:Paperback

This is a great book, especially for nonfiction writers. It covers everything from the mechanics of writing (e.g., the best time of day to write, the number of words per writing session we promise ourselves) to the complexities of fieldwork and interviewing strategies, how to synthesize vast amounts of information, and how to stimulate the creative process. The fieldwork and interviewing strategies of these journalists very much resemble what I use as an applied anthropologist focusing on Africa, and poorer nations generally. In fact, some of these journalists either had anthropological training, or, like Leon Dash, they are good-naturedly referred to as "our staff anthropologist" by their colleagues.

The link between "new journalism" and anthropology is primarily the participant-observation fieldwork technique these journalists use, basically meaning that they live among and share the lives of those they write about. Total immersion. Of course, anthropologists traditionally did ethnographic fieldwork for least at least 1-2 years before writing about their adopted society, while journalists typically spend less time researching an article or book.

I found myself underlining this book on almost every other page. There are little gems strewn everywhere. Nineteen journalists were interviewed for this book and I did not encounter one that I found uninteresting or who did not teach me something valuable for the work and writing I do myself.

One recurring theme is that these writers often challenge and overturn conventional wisdom. For example, journalist William Finnegan (two of whose books I happen to have read) went to Somalia in 1995 expecting to find little more than anarchy, anomie and mayhem. Instead he found "wild, frontier capitalism," and vibrant, unrestrained entrepreneurship, made possible in part by "having no dictator around." I did a 2-week information-gathering assignment in Somali in 1984, and my colleagues will tell you that all I raved for weeks after this experience was the "vibrant unrestrained, entrepreneurship" I unexpectedly encountered. And there was still a dictator around then.

I was relatively young in my career then and I wondered at the time if my "quick and dirty" field methods might have been flawed. After all, no one I read or spoke to about Somalia ever mentioned entrepreneurship. (Hmmmm....I am wondering if Finnegan somehow stumbled upon my obscure 1984 Somalia report for USAID? But no, that building must have been burned down.)

I am happy to recommend Boynton`s book to anyone who does, or attempts to do, nonfiction writing, which means an audience that extends far beyond journalism.