The Princeton Reader: Contemporary Essays by Writers and Journalists at Princeton University

Published by Princeton University Press 2011

The Princeton Reader

Contemporary Essays by Writers and Journalists at Princeton University

Edited by: John McPhee and Carol Rigolot

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400836505

Overview
Contents

About this book

From a Swedish hotel made of ice to the enigma of UFOs, from a tragedy on Lake Minnetonka to the gold mine of cyberpornography, The Princeton Reader brings together more than 90 favorite essays by 75 distinguished writers. This collection of nonfiction pieces by journalists who have held the Ferris/McGraw/Robbins professorships at Princeton University offers a feast of ideas, emotions, and experiences--political and personal, light-hearted and comic, serious and controversial--for anyone to dip into, contemplate, and enjoy.

The volume includes a plethora of topics from the environment, terrorism, education, sports, politics, and music to profiles of memorable figures and riveting stories of survival. These important essays reflect the high-quality work found in today's major newspapers, magazines, broadcast media, and websites. The book's contributors include such outstanding writers as Ken Armstrong of the Seattle Times; Jill Abramson, Jim Dwyer, and Walt Bogdanich of the New York Times; Evan Thomas of Newsweek; Joel Achenbach and Marc Fisher of the Washington Post; Nancy Gibbs of Time; and Jane Mayer, John McPhee, John Seabrook, and Alex Ross of the New Yorker.

The perfect collection for anyone who enjoys compelling narratives, The Princeton Reader contains a depth and breadth of nonfiction that will inspire, provoke, and endure.

Author / Editor information

John McPhee's many books include Annals of the Former World, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Carol Rigolot is executive director of the Humanities Council at Princeton University.

Reviews

"I read this book with great pleasure. Its kaleidoscopic variety is a virtue and leads us to enjoyable surprises."—Jonathan Schell, author of The Seventh Decade

"This is an extremely valuable collection of some of the best writing in the field of journalism. Distinctive and appealing, this is one-stop shopping for delicious writing across different media forms."—Charlotte Grimes, Syracuse University

"Reading the anthology under review is a learning experience; at least it is for those still taking journalism very seriously and potentially to news workers the globe over. In today's multi-channel media environment, governed by new media and web blogs, we constantly rely on enterprises such as this, to illuminate the as yet reassuring boundaries between news and entertainment media."---Adriana Neagu, American British and Canadian Studies

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE John Mc Phee Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Aliens Joel Achenbach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Baby Jessica Grows Up Evan Thomas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
History: How American Myths Are Made Evan Thomas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
If You Want To Humble an Empire Nancy Gibbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Fighting for Life 50 Floors Up, with One Tool and Ingenuity Jim Dwyer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
U.S. Airways Flight 1549: Old Hands on the River Didn’t Have to Be Told What to Do Jim Dwyer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Anthrax Marilyn W. Thompson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
The Everyman Who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste Walt Bogdanich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
When the Terror Began Alexander Wolff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America Michael Dobbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
A Knock on the Door Serge Schmemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
Tiananmen Massacre Rose Tang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Finding Respite from Worries Jill Abramson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
My Father’s Closet John Seabrook Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
A Backward Glance Elizabeth Kendall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Silk Parachute John McPhee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
The Road Block Peter Godwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Burning My Father Peter Godwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
A Moving Experience Paula Span Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
The Lure of the Frozen Lake Julia Keller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
True Love Is Made of This Michael Vitez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
The Greatest Penn Success Story Michael Vitez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
A Pit Bull Who Provided Lessons in Loyalty and Unfailing Love Peter Applebome Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
A Sign: It’s Jesus, or a Lunch Bargain Peter Applebome Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
The Two Lives of John Favors ’72: A Political Activist Becomes a Monk in the Hare Krishna Movement Melvin R. McCray Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
In Albania, a Girl Who Became a Man Barbara Demick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
The North Korean Film Festival: No Stars, No Swag, but What a Crowd! Barbara Demick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Title Infl ation: How Hollywood Watches Our Wallets Bob Mondello Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Ice Accommodations Juliet Eilperin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
The Renaissance of the Marais Mitchel Levitas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
Walking to Vermont Christopher S. Wren Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
Between a Woman and Her Doctor: A Story about Abortion Martha Mendoza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Baby’s First Helmet James V. Grimaldi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
After Etan: The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive Lisa Cohen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
A Hostage Crisis Hits Latin America Juanita Darling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Children Caught in the Immigration Crossfire Kathy Kiely Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
A Father’s Promise Geraldine Moriba Meadows Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
McKinley High School Athelia Knight Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
A Believing Principal Leads a Battle to Save a Sch Dan Grech Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Edison’s Big Loss Dan Grech Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Yodobashi No. 6 T. R. Reid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Sports: The Glue for Lost Kids Filip Bondy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Curtis Williams—Victory and Ruins Ken Armstrong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Arson Science—To Their Rescue? Emilie Lounsberry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Stinging Tentacles Offer Hint of Oceans’ Decline Elisabeth Rosenthal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Chernobyl: The Danger Persists Felicity Barringer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Alaska: Oil’s Ground Zero Jeffrey Bartholet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
Arctic Rush Craig Duff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
The X Files Thomas E. Weber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Internet Gamblin Gilbert M. Gaul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Seeking New Ways to Nurture the Capacity to Report Charles Lewis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Role Model: Sarah McClendon Roberta Oster Sachs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Remembering a Friend: Ed Bradley Was a Gift to Journalism Roberta Oster Sachs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Whose Media Are We? Ralph J. Begleiter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
The West and the Arab World: The Case of Media Daoud Kuttab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Don’t E-mail Me Joel Stein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
Millions of Women Weep Joel Stein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
The Lessons of Cain Joel Stein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
A View to a Kill Charles Lane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Cuba: The End of the End of the Revolution Roger Cohen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Guantánamo Jane Mayer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
The Promise Ethan Bronner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Gaza Notebook: The Bullets in My In-Box Ethan Bronner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
A Gaza Diary Chris Hedges Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
In Horses, a Personal Refuge Paul Salopek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Hints of Lives Are All That Remains Paul Salopek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Now They Execute Polite Shuffles: There’s a Strange Sameness in the Stories of Baath Party Members in Iraq Paul Salopek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
In Land of Ruin, a House of Stone Shelters Delight Paul Salopek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
Iraq: Transformation Bypasses the Heartland Thanassis Cambanis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
Hezbollah Fighter Strove to be a Martyr Thanassis Cambanis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Hezbollah Fighter Strove to be a Martyr Peter Maass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	284
Bosnia’s Elite “Disappeared” Gutman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Stone Age Ways Surviving, Barely Calvin Sims Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Oshima Journal: After 90 Years, Small Gestures of Joy for Lepers Calvin Sims Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297
Ella in Wonderland Margo Jefferson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	300
On Writers and Writing: D. H. Lawrence Frees the Slaves Margo Jefferson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
Max Perkins: Editor of Genius A. Scott Berg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
The Prince Claudia Roth Pierpont Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Diary of a Bad Year, by J. M. Coetzee Richard Eder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	316
Beowulf and Fate Meet in a Modern Poet’s Lens Richard Eder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
John Leonard Robert Christgau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
Growing by Degrees Robert Christgau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
Pop Music: The Durability of Doo-Wop Martin Gottlieb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	326
On the White Side of Crossover Dreams Martin Gottlieb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	330
Something in the Air Marc Fisher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
The Sonata Seminar Alex Ross Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Alex Ross Mark Feeney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	342
A Battalion of One’s Own Barton Gellman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345
Injured in Iraq, a Soldier Is Shattered at Home Deborah Sontag Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
Connections David Maraniss Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Trevor Manuel and the Liberation of Nelson Mandela Pippa Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
Jerry Brown Still Wants Your Vote Michael Duffy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	368
”I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” Jeff Gerth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	372
Fannie Lou Hamer Kay Mills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	378
The Fourth of July Greil Marcus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	385
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391