Second Read: Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage

Published by Columbia University Press 2011

Second Read

Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage

Edited by: James Marcus and The Staff of the Columbia Journalism Review

In the series Columbia Journalism Review Books

https://doi.org/10.7312/marc15930

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Columbia Journalism Review's Second Read series features distinguished journalists revisiting key works of reportage. Launched in 2004 by John Palattella, who was then editor of the magazine's book section, the series also allows authors address such ongoing concerns as the conflict between narrative flair and accurate reporting, the legacy of New Journalism, the need for reporters to question their political assumptions, the limitations of participatory journalism, and the temptation to substitute "truthiness" for hard, challenging fact. Representing a wide range of views, Second Read embodies the diversity and dynamism of contemporary nonfiction while offering fresh perspectives on works by Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Rachel Carson, and Gabriel García Márquez, among others. It also highlights pivotal moments and movements in journalism as well as the innovations of award-winning writers.

Essays include Rick Perlstein on Paul Cowan's The Tribes of America; Nicholson Baker on Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year; Dale Maharidge on James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men; Marla Cone on Rachel Carson's Silent Spring; Ben Yagoda on Walter Bernstein's Keep Your Head Down; Ted Conover on Stanley Booth's The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones; Jack Shafer on Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; Connie Schultz on Michael Herr's Dispatches; Michael Shapiro on Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day; Douglas McCollam on John McPhee's Annals of the Former World; Tom Piazza on Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night; Thomas Mallon on William Manchester's The Death of a President; Miles Corwin on Gabriel García Márquez's The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor; David Ulin on Joan Didion's Slouching Toward Bethlehem; and Claire Dederer on Betty MacDonald's Anybody Can Do Anything.

Author / Editor information

James Marcus is deputy editor of Harper's Magazine and author of Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot-Com Juggernaut. His work has appeared in many publications, including The Nation, The Los Angeles Times, The Harvard Review, The Paris Review, and Best American Essays 2009.

The Columbia Journalism Review, founded in 1961 under the auspices of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, is one of the world's most respected resources for media criticism and commentary.

Reviews

Steve Weinberg:
Second Read carries value for any writer, whether oft-published or a novice or in between.

contemporary journalists offer fresh looks at the work of previous generations in this rich collection.Daily News

David Hajdu, music critic for The New Republic and professor of journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism:
A book of journalism about books of journalism that are worth reading twice? The essays here honor their subject in the best possible way: they are so good, so rich, and so finely written, they deserve to be read again.

Thomas Frank, author of The Wrecking Crew and What's the Matter with Kansas?:
Let us now praise forgotten nonfiction. It is the fate of great journalism, perhaps, to fade away just a few decades after appearing. Yet that leaves for us the pleasures of rediscovery, which the essays collected in Second Read bring off in superb style.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction James Marcus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Paul Cowan’s The Tribes of America Rick Perlstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year Nicholson Baker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Dale Maharidge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
Paul Gallico’s Farewell to Sport Robert Lipsyte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Marla Cone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Walter Bernstein’s Keep Your Head Down Ben Yagoda Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
A. J. Liebling’s The Earl of Louisiana Evan Cornog Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Stanley Booth’s The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones Ted Conover Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Jack Schafer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
Palagummi Sainath’s Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India’s Poorest Districts Naresh Fernandes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Charles Raw, Bruce Page, & Godfrey Hodgson’s DO YOu Sincerely Want to Be Rich? Chris Lehmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
Michael Herr’s Dispatches Connie Schultz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day Michael Shapiro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
John McPhee’s Annals of the Former World Douglas McCollam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Marshall Frady’s Wallace Scott Sherman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart Gal Beckerman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Vincent Sheean’s Personal History John Maxwell Hamilton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Norman Mailer’s THE Armies of the Night Tom Piazza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
William Manchester’s The Death of a President Thomas Mallon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Gabriel García Márquez’s The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor Miles Corwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem David Ulin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Peter Fleming’s Brazilian Adventure Justin Peters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Betty MacDonald’s Anybody Can Do Anything Claire Dederer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 208

eBook

Published: November 8, 2011
ISBN: 9780231500586