Intimate Journalism: The Art and Craft of Reporting Everyday Life

An exemplary text for courses in feature writing, magazine, and literary journalism, Intimate Journalism introduces students to the cutting-edge art of combining traditional feature writing with deep journalistic inquiry.

This collection of award-winning articles elevates human interest reporting to new heights in the literary journalism field. In a detailed and hands-on, practical primer on in-depth human reporting, editor Walt Harrington prefaces this outstanding collection by sharing the trade secrets from his 15 years as a staff writer for The Washington Post Magazine. Fifteen articles follow, each containing fascinating examples of evocative human reporting by some of the most artful journalists in America. Each article is followed by an invaluable afterword from each journalist describing how he or she conceptualized, reported and wrote their particular story.

In this passionate and intense volume, Harrington gives journalists inspiration and guidance on how to turn ordinary life into extraordinary journalism A must for students and teachers of journalism, for budding magazine and newspaper writers, and for professional journalists who wish to be re-inspired by the superb reporting, distinctive writing, and sound advice found in this text.

The man who couldn’t read ; Shadow of a nation / Gary Smith —
The American man at age 10 / Susan Orlean —
The last housewife in America ; TV without guilt / David Finkel —
Mrs. Kelly’s monster / Jon Franklin —
Missing Alice / Pete Earley —
In these girls, hope is a muscle ; Zepp’s last stand / Madeleine Blais —
Each other’s mirror / Jeanne Marie Laskas —
How the world turns in West Philadelphia / Richard Ben Cramer —
Death in Venice / Mike Sager —
True detective ; When daddy comes home ; The shape of her dreaming / Walt Harrington