The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft

Forty years after Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, and Gay Talese launched the New
Journalism movement, Robert S. Boynton sits down with nineteen practitioners of what
he calls the New New Journalism to discuss their methods, writings and careers.

The New New Journalists are first and foremost brilliant reporters who immerse themselves
completely in their subjects. Jon Krakauer accompanies a mountaineering expedition
to Everest. Ted Conover works for nearly a year as a prison guard. Susan Orlean follows
orchid fanciers to reveal an obsessive subculture few knew existed. Adrian Nicole
LeBlanc spends nearly a decade reporting on a family in the South Bronx. And like
their muckraking early twentieth-century precursors, they are drawn to the most pressing
issues of the day: Alex Kotlowitz, Leon Dash, and William Finnegan to race and class;
Ron Rosenbaum to the problem of evil; Michael Lewis to boom-and-bust economies; Richard
Ben Cramer to the nitty gritty of politics. How do they do it? In these interviews,
they reveal the techniques and inspirations behind their acclaimed works, from their
felt-tip pens, tape recorders, long car rides, and assumed identities; to their intimate
understanding of the way a truly great story unfolds.

Interviews with:

Gay Talese
Jane Kramer
Calvin Trillin
Richard Ben Cramer
Ted Conover
Alex Kotlowitz
Richard
Preston
William Langewiesche
Eric Schlosser
Leon Dash
William Finnegan
Jonathan
Harr
Jon Krakauer
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Michael Lewis
Susan Orlean
Ron Rosenbaum
Lawrence Weschler
Lawrence Wright