The New Journalism

Page added Mar-28-2003
Last updated April 2003

pic coming soon :-D

I was plunged into the world of literary non-fiction back at SAIT in 1995. I was a common sight in the library discard room and regularly came away with some awesome finds. Their trash, my treasure. The New Journalism by Michael L. Johnson is a good introduction to many different authors of the 1960s and their writing styles. Unlike Tom Wolfe's The New Journalism, which was published after Johnson's, Johnson does more critiquing and comparison than just presenting a selection of authors. The first few chapters detail the rise in alternative news sources, such as independent newspapers and underground comics. Naturally, Hell's Angels was featured in the book. It would have been interesting to see what Johnson thought of HST's later works, such as "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan". One of the reasons that I like the book so much is that it gives some examples from writers who are not easily found these days, such as William J. Craddock. I'd say that this book has more historical value than Tom Wolfe's.

Johnson is now chair of the Department of English at the University of Kansas. He also edited Reading and Writing Differently and wrote several books of poetry.