Books as Journalism

Heather E. Gilbert

Journalistic books are described in many ways. Sometimes they are classified as “new journalism” or “ new new journalism”; at other times such books are seen as “literary” or “literary narrative” journalism, sometimes as “literary nonfiction,” or “nonfiction reportage,” “journalit,” or “nonfiction novel.” There are varying arguments about what makes a nonfiction book a journalistic work rather than a literary one. One way such books differ from other journalism is in the way the traditional journalistic approaches to news gathering are expanded. Journalists' research can last for years, allowing writers to immerse themselves into the characters' lives and environment, sometimes undercover. Journalists who are unable within the limits of their publication restraints to expand news stories will often return to earlier work and expand that into book-length treatments. The debate over required elements of the form and its very name is closely related to arguments over who can write Silent ...

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