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Here is a list of books to check out if you
are interested in Intimate Journalism.
Most are available from Amazon.com, and can
be ordered by clicking on their cover icon.
If you know of any more good books like these,
please let us know.
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
Journalist Wolfe spent about two years with Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters - the San Francisco collective who travelled around America in a garish bus, causing havoc and advocating the use of LSD.
Wolfe's book is an astounding achievement, as it leads you through the addled, ecstatic minds of Kesey's bunch. Filled with sunshine, oblivion and ultimately paranoia, it is perhaps THE most important book for anyone interested in Intimate or New journalism.
Read it after Kerouac's 'On The Road', because it follows on directly: Kerouac's travelling companion Dean Moriarty is the driver of Kesey's bus.
Read more at Amazon.
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
The book that re-launched Capote's flagging career is another huge achievement for intimate journalism, as the author narrates the story of two killers making their way across America, and the police investigation to find them.
The story of Dick and Perry is a masterstroke of journalistic detail and eloquent interpretation. Some say Capote went too far. Nevertheless, In Cold Blood is a benchmark for Intimate Journalism
Read more at Amazon.
Intimate Journalism:
The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life
ed. Walt Harrington
I haven't decided what to write about this book, because I need to do it justice.
Read more at Amazon.
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline
Baby
Tom Wolfe
A collection of Wolfe's earlier work for Rolling Stone and Esquire. Contains the most felicitous and celebratory use of the English language you may ever come across.
The feature on Las Vegas - where the author looks at all sides of the neon city, and even visits the mental hospital where a patient walks around constantly pulling the arm of an imaginary fruit machine - is a joy to read. As are the pieces on hot rod cars and stock car racing.
Not as important a Wolfe purchase as 'The Electric Kool Aid..' or 'The New Journalism' but a great read all the same.
Read more at Amazon.
Literary Journalism:
A New Collection of the Best American Nonfiction
eds. Norman Sims and Mark Kramer
Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman
The New Journalism
with an anthology edited by Tom Wolfe and E.W.Johnson
Tom Wolfe
Wolfe's first few chapters take you through the genesis of New Journalism in the 1960s, the author dropping many entertaining anecdotes about his days as a reporter.
Next you get a precise description of the style and techniques of New Journalism. But the real reason to read this book is the anthology that follows. It is a tour-de-force of American non-fiction journalism, with pieces by Hunter Thompson, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, Michael Kherr and many others.
One of Britain's top feature writers, Lynn Barber, reckons this is the most influential book in journalism history. Almost as essential as your pen/computer.
N.B. Not always available from Amazon.
Our Cancer Year
Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack
Palestine: A Nation Occupied
Joe Sacco
Palestine: In the Gaza Strip
Joe Sacco
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Joan Didion
Didion's book is a good companion to 'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' because Didion was writing on the same subject - California, particularly San Francisco, at the height of the hippie/LSD movement. Her style is clipped and sparse - a contrast to Wolfe's tumbling adjectives and inventive punctuation, and through her writing, she shows a darker, more depraved side of Sixties California.
Read more at Amazon.
Writing For Story
Jon Franklin
Jon Franklin is a charitable soul. In this book he guides the student through the process of writing non-fiction, giving away his secrets and passing on the rules he has learnt through years of hard graft. The learning curve is just right, and Franklin's teaching 'voice' is gentle but firm.
The author shows you two of his most accomplished pieces, and then breaks them down so that the techniques described in the book become clear in demonstration.
Writing For Story is a fine, fine book and it has as much to teach the fiction writer as it does the non-fiction journalist. Brilliant.
Read more at Amazon.