In 1957--long before colleges awarded degrees in creative
nonfiction and back when newspaper writing's reputation was tainted
by the fish it wrapped--Princeton began honoring talented literary
journalists. Since then, fifty-nine of the finest, most dedicated,
and most decorated nonfiction writers have held the Ferris and
McGraw professorships. This monumental volume harbors their
favorite and often most influential works. Each contribution is
rewarding reading, and collectively the selections validate
journalism's ascent into the esteem of the academy and the reading
public.
Necessarily eclectic and delightfully idiosyncratic, the
fifty-nine pieces are long and short, political and personal, comic
and deadly serious. Students will be provoked by William Greider's
pointed critique of the democracy industry, eerily entertained by
Leslie Cockburn's fraternization with the Cali cartel, inspired by
David K. Shipler's thoughts on race, unsettled by Haynes Johnson's
account of Bay of Pigs survivors, and moved by Lucinda Frank's
essay on a mother fighting to save a child born with birth defects.
Many of the essays are finely crafted portraits: Charlotte Grimes's
biography of her grandmother, Blair Clark's obituary for Robert
Lowell, and Jane Kramer's affecting story of a woman hero of the
French Resistance.
Other contributions to savor include Harrison Salisbury on the
siege of Leningrad, Landon Jones on the 1950s, Christopher Wren on
Soviet mountaineering, James Gleick on technology, Gloria Emerson
on Vietnam, Gina Kolata on Fermat's last theorem, and Roger Mudd on
the media. Whether approached chronologically, thematically,
randomly, or, as the editors order them, more intuitively, each
suggests a perfect evening reading.
Designed for students as well as general readers, "The
Princeton Anthology of Writing" splendidly attests to the elegance,
eloquence, and endurance of fine nonfiction.
General
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