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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.
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.
Introduction
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
Robert Lipsyte on Paul Gallico's Farewell to Sport
Marla Cone on Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Ben Yagoda on Walter Bernstein's Keep Your Head Down
Evan Cornog on A. J. Liebling's The Earl of Louisiana
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
Naresh Fernandes on Palagummi Sainath's Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts
Chris Lehmann on Charles Raw, Bruce Page, and Godfrey Hodgson's Do You Sincerely Want to Be Rich?
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
Scott Sherman on Marshall Frady's Wallace
Gal Beckerman on Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart
John Maxwell Hamilton on Vincent Sheean's Personal History
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 Towards Bethlehem
Justin Peters on Peter Fleming's Brazilian Adventure
Claire Dederer on Betty MacDonald's Anybody Can Do Anything
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