Intimate Journalism: The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life

By Walt Harrington

Book Overview

An exemplary text for courses in feature writing, magazine, and literary journalism, Intimate Journalism introduces students to the cutting-edge art of combining traditional feature writing with deep journalistic inquiry. This collection of award-winning articles elevates human interest reporting to new heights in the literary journalism field. In a detailed and hands-on, practical primer on in-depth human reporting, editor Walt Harrington prefaces this outstanding collection by sharing the trade secrets from his 15 years as a staff writer for The Washington Post Magazine. Fifteen articles follow, each containing fascinating examples of evocative human reporting by some of the most artful journalists in America. Each article is followed by an invaluable afterword from each journalist describing how he or she conceptualized, reported and wrote their particular story. In this passionate and intense volume, Harrington gives journalists inspiration and guidance on how to turn ordinary life into extraordinary journalism A must for students and teachers of journalism, for budding magazine and newspaper writers, and for professional journalists who wish to be re-inspired by the superb reporting, distinctive writing, and sound advice found in this text.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761905871
• ISBN13: 9780761905875
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Journalism the way it's meant to be

I was a journalist for more than 10 years and this book proved to be one of my most fruitful instructors. Not only does it have outstanding examples of good non-fiction writing, the interviews with the authors provide a "how to," lesson that is priceless. If you want to improve your writing or if you want to see journalism at its best, remembering its heyday as a highly respected profession that chronicled history as it was made- buy this book!

Excellent!

Well worth the price. Just couldn't put this book down. Harrington illustrates exactly how journalism should be. Every journalist, aspiring or professional, should read this book!

Powerful

This book demonstrates just how well magazine nonfiction can be. The journalists selected are not particuarly well-known, but they are masters of their craft and present highly enjoyable reads. Susan Orlean might be the best-known of the bunch, just because her most recent book, "The Orchid Thief," was highlighted in the 2002 movie "Adaptation."For starters, Orlean's piece "The American Male at Age 10" was a fascinating look at today's youth. Each piece is outstanding in its own way, but may I also present as standouts "TV Without Guilt" (a family whose television is on approximately 16 hours a day) and "The Man Who Couldn't Read" (profile of an illiterate millionaire with two college degrees).As a bonus for those with an interest in feature writing, "Author's Afterwords" has the writers briefly describe the process of finding and executing their ideas. But if you are an aspiring writer or just appreciative of quality writing, this book is a must-read.