Adam Hochschild, a longtime supporter of the Nieman Foundation’s narrative program, published a new book last month, “To End All Wars.” A former editor of Mother Jones magazine, Hochschild lives in San Francisco and teaches writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also written several narrative books [...]
Tag Archives: Mother Jones
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, part 3: character
April 5, 2011 – 11:11 am
[This third installment in a four-part series on writing historical narratives focuses on the importance of characters. The series is based on a lecture given by Adam Hochschild at Vanderbilt University in February 2011. Prior installments have included a look at the value of setting and scenes in nonfiction storytelling and a call to bridge the divide [...]
Mac McClelland on scenes, narrative and sexual assault in post-quake Haiti
March 3, 2011 – 3:28 pm
Earlier today, we posted our second Editors’ Roundtable, in which our group of veterans examined a piece of narrative nonfiction. The story for the second outing is “Welcome to Haiti’s Reconstruction Hell,” written by Mac McClelland of Mother Jones. Despite being warned that having a group of editors look at her work is a little like [...]
March Editors’ Roundtable: Mother Jones looks at rape in Haiti
March 3, 2011 – 3:25 pm
The narrative for discussion in the second installment of our Editors’ Roundtable is “Welcome to Haiti’s Reconstruction Hell” by Mac McClelland. Appearing in Mother Jones earlier this year, the story was written after a visit in 2010 to survey the island’s post-quake recovery efforts. Clara Jeffery, one of two editors-in-chief at Mother Jones, edited the piece.
The narrative for [...]
What we’re reading: the long arc of reporting on Scientology, a different kind of drug war, and a new narrative collaboration
February 15, 2011 – 11:46 am
The long-form buzz this last week has been all about Lawrence Wright’s piece on Scientology for the New Yorker, “The Apostate.” It’s ostensibly a profile, but it’s also investigative journalism and a compelling narrative. Wright’s deft storytelling was recently addressed on this site by Roy Peter Clark, who looked at a passage from “The Looming Tower,” [...]
Adam Hochschild on narrative nonfiction, history and finding the next story
April 30, 2010 – 3:47 pm
Adam Hochschild arrived at the narrative journalism conference at Boston University last weekend feeling liberated after an intense six-year relationship.
But soon this writer will be looking to fall in love again. If he doesn’t, he will get anxious.
“Sometimes I am able to stay off the streets and out of trouble by writing magazine pieces or [...]
Mother Jones’ Dave Gilson: There’s a riot goin’ on
December 14, 2009 – 4:09 pm
“Any minute now, Cell Block J is going to blow. My gang has occupied the long cement gallery outside our cells and we’re itching for a fight.”
A scene from the opening of a prime-time cable series? Nope—it’s the lead from a story in last month’s Mother Jones. Dave Gilson’s piece narrates a mock riot in [...]
End of the Line
September 25, 2009 – 12:00 am
If fictional detective Philip Marlowe closed up shop and started traveling the country as an itinerant reporter, he might sound something like Charlie LeDuff in “End of the Line,” our latest Notable Narrative. This feature from Mother Jones chronicles hard times in Janesville, Wis., which recently boasted an unemployment rate of 8.1%, the highest in the state.
The title [...]
Three Days in Rome
July 25, 2006 – 4:17 pm
In this investigative piece, Rozen traces contacts between members and affiliates of the Bush administration and an Iranian exile with a reputation for tall tales. Rozen builds on the case that the administration bases foreign policy on bad advice and false testimony. The story is a good example of using narrative techniques to tell a [...]
Against All Odds
May 1, 2006 – 12:00 am
If there were a genre called moral narrative, this piece (and the book on which it is based) would exemplify it. The driving threads in the story are nothing less than forces of good and evil: anti- and pro-slavery factions in colonial-era England. It makes for an exceptionally compelling tale. Offering enough concrete detail to [...]
