Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism

by Lillian Ross

For half a century, Lillian Ross has been writing remarkable and timeless journalism for The New Yorker. Her spirited, funny, factual short stories in The Talk of the Town and her unforgettable profiles and other long pieces have won her a legion of admirers. Many credit The New Yorker for the inventive, reportorial breakthroughs that have come to be called literary journalism, and Ross has been an integral part of its traditions. Her books Picture and Portrait of Hemingway were recently listed as two of the Twentieth Century's 100 best works of journalism, and Hemingway himself called Picture "much better than most novels." With panache, wit, and her own inimitable style, Lillian Ross discusses the questions of what makes a good reporter and what constitutes good journalism. Her years of practicing the art have provided her with much to say about these questions and nowhere is this in better evidence than in her own work-the pieces and profiles long recognized and admired for their freshness, originality, sharpness, humor, and truth. Excerpted here, along with her own commentary, are such classics as "Come In, Lassie!" her first, never before republished piece on Hollywood; her profiles of Francis Coppola, Robin Williams, Adlai Stevenson, John Huston, and Tommy Lee Jones; her two portraits of the Miss America contest-the first one published in 1949; the second fifty years later, and many others. A primer on good writing, a tribute to the art of journalism, Reporting Notes on Journalism is not only a casebook for writing, it is the unforgettable record of Lillian Ross's joy in the pursuit of excellence in reporting.

Genres: Journalism

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Lillian Ross was an American journalist and author, who was a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1945 until she retired.

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book would be better if the author was less self-congratulatory.

[Stewartrussell · Rating 4 out of 5]

its really very charming. shes the "friend" in all those new yorker pieces "our friend from zanzibar writes. . . " and she writes about herself just the way she writes about all those other people she bumps into in her peripatetisms. she claims her effortless style is really effortless, and its hard not to believe her, even though i dont. the only minor clink is a sort of super niceness and kindness to all gods creatures great and small that might be a holdover survival strategy from her egg-tooth days in a world of journalism that was less than nurturing of non-white or non-male practicioners of the art. but there is alot to learn in it if you read carefully; shes telling us more than shes telling us, and she knows it.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been slowly reading this for the last three years. Who knows how long it will take me, but the little bits of it that I digest here and there I've found immensely valuable. Ms. Ross spent most of her career writing New Yorker profiles, and I adore so many of the "Talk of the Town" vignettes she shares in the book.

[Nhadz Mohammad · Rating 4 out of 5]

It so funny that I've been reading this book for almost 6 months now and I have not done yet reading it...I've been trying to absorb thoroughly those news features article pieces and I love every bit of it! I think every aspiring journalist who loves news features writing should get a copy of it!