Synopses & Reviews
Fifteen sparkling works of inside-out reportage--Harper's own house brand of Submersion Journalism--an unapologetically aggressive approach to reporting in an age of lies.
A dazzling intellectual immersion....Consistently challenging, even demanding, Harper's power is in its ability to cause sometimes subtle, sometimes seismic shifts in a reader's world view.--National Magazine Award citation for General Excellence, 2006
Over the past several years, Harper's Magazine has fostered an exciting brand of journalism, participatory, sometimes even undercover, in approach. The magazine's correspondents have infiltrated the Republican machine, from its lowliest canvassing operation to its corporate and evangelical elite, and they have posed as shady clients for sleazy blue-chip lobbying firms. They have shot machine guns, lounged in Vegas brothels, and peered into secret tunnels in Mexicali. They have terrorized art museums and touched off worldwide fads.
Submersion Journalism collects the best of this reportage--by celebrated authors (William T. Vollmann, Barbara Ehrenreich) and fresh new voices (Wells Tower, Jake Silverstein) alike--in a book that serves not just as a collection of striking stories but also as a proclamation in favor of truth-telling instead of managed news and PR spin. The book is a defense of the radically first-person dispatch, filed from exactly those points of view where a reporter is not supposed to be.
With articles by Charles Bowden, Adam Davidson, Barbara Ehrenreich, Steve Featherstone, Kristoffer A. Garin, Gary Greenberg, Jay Kirk, Willem Marx, Morgan Meis, Jeff Sharlet, Jake Silverstein, Ken Silverstein, Wells Tower, William T.Vollmann, Bill Wasik
Review
"Proof of the indelible power of . . . detailed nonfiction storytelling." —
Washington City Paper"It’s always exciting to see collections like these come out, if only for the fact that they highlight some of the best, most entertaining journalism ever written." —The Millions
"Admirable. . . . The selections are tightly and sometimes masterfully written." —Austin Chronicle
"An often-witty and engaging collection, proof positive that there are still reporters who prod, dig and poke. Not content to be embedded or press-release-driven, these journalists exemplify what it means to be intrepid investigators and inquisitors of power, whether personal or political." —The Indypendent
"A great anthology, chock full of fantastic articles." —Good
"This collection should be read by any student who aspires to the true art of journalism, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about what really goes on in American politics—and society—today." —Library Journal
"A terrific retrospective collection." —Booklist
"Although these are nonfiction contributions, they often read like literature." &mdashThe Brooklyn Rail
Synopsis
“Submersion journalism” happens when a reporter dares to see a story from the inside: to participate in the events at hand, sometimes undercover, and then to tell the tale from a distinct point of view rather than pretend to some ideal of objectivity. During the Bush years, Harper’s correspondents infiltrated the Republican machine, from its lowliest canvassing operation to its corporate and evangelical elite, and they posed as shady clients for sleazy blue-chip lobbying firms. They shot machine guns, lounged in Vegas brothels, and peered into secret tunnels in Mexicali. They terrorized art museums and touched off worldwide fads.
Here are some of the best examples of participatory reporting published in the past decade, called “brilliant work” by the Los Angeles Times.
Contributors: Charles Bowden Adam Davidson Barbara Ehrenreich Steve Featherstone Kristoffer A. Garin Gary Greenberg Roger D. Hodge Jay Kirk Willem Marx Morgan Meis Jeff Sharlet Jake Silverstein Ken Silverstein Wells Tower William T. Vollmann Bill Wasik
About the Author
Bill Wasik is a senior editor at
Wired Magazine and was previously a senior editor at
Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of
And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture; a co-author, with Monica Murphy, of
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus; and the editor of
Submersion Journalism: Reporting in the Radical First Person from Harper’s Magazine (The New Press). He lives in Oakland, California.