The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism
by Kevin Kerrane (Editor), Ben Yagoda (Editor)
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Description
The Art of Fact is a historical treasury tracing what used to be called "new" journalism back to such pioneers as Defoe, Dickens, and Orwell, and to crime writers, investigative social reporters, and war correspondents who stretched the limits of style and even propriety to communicate powerful truth. The tradition is alive and well in stories that take us from a cantina in Los Angeles to a lesbian bar in Dublin, from a massacre in Tiananmen Square to a nonviolent revolution in the show more Philippines. This international emphasis links American literary journalists to their counterparts in England, Africa, and Russia. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The Art of Fact lives up to its billing as literary journalism;
unfortunately, it is also pretty depressing.
Not that the reporting isn't often impressive; it's the selection of content that can weigh readers down,
getting us off to a rip roaring start with a hanging and moving into Dickens totally without redemption...
it would have been welcome if Whitman had led off the collection. It's one to end wars forever.
"Bronx Slave market" was brutally honest.
"Armies of the Night" offered Mailer's self-absorbed and humorless tedium.
It works as an uneven collection from the opening horror and onto more boring tedium (Tom Wolfe) and into brilliant (John McPhee).
"Juke Joint" was the most readable and Hershey's HIROSHIMA the most powerful.
Wars and show more violence and more cruelty than can be imagined -
is this the best that humans can come up with after climbing down the trees and crossing the savannas?
It was also surprising not to see Mary McGrory's evocative JFK writing
alongside Jimmy Breslin's lighter "It's an Honor." show less
unfortunately, it is also pretty depressing.
Not that the reporting isn't often impressive; it's the selection of content that can weigh readers down,
getting us off to a rip roaring start with a hanging and moving into Dickens totally without redemption...
it would have been welcome if Whitman had led off the collection. It's one to end wars forever.
"Bronx Slave market" was brutally honest.
"Armies of the Night" offered Mailer's self-absorbed and humorless tedium.
It works as an uneven collection from the opening horror and onto more boring tedium (Tom Wolfe) and into brilliant (John McPhee).
"Juke Joint" was the most readable and Hershey's HIROSHIMA the most powerful.
Wars and show more violence and more cruelty than can be imagined -
is this the best that humans can come up with after climbing down the trees and crossing the savannas?
It was also surprising not to see Mary McGrory's evocative JFK writing
alongside Jimmy Breslin's lighter "It's an Honor." show less
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Author Information
Ben Yagoda is a journalism professor in the English Department at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Memoir: A History; Will Rogers: A Biography; When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It; The Sound on the Page; The Art of Fact; and About Town: The New Yorker and the World it Made; and a coauthor of All in a Lifetime: An Autobiography show more about Dr. Ruth Westheimer. He has written for Slate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times Book Review, Stop Smiling, and other publications. He lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two daughters. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism
- Original publication date
- 1997
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 081 — Computer science, information & general works Anthologies and Quotations General collections in American English
- LCC
- PN6014 .A76 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Collections of general literature
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 225
- Popularity
- 144,378
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
