Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I love This American Life on NPR and was excited to discover this collection of essays assembled by the intelligent and original Ira Glass. I have always loved the viewpoint in Ira's broadcasts and looked forward to discovering the essays and writers he considered worthwhile.
This is an excellent collection of non-fiction. I won't use the term "literary non-fiction" because Ira Glass hates the term. (...I'm a snob when it comes to that phrase. I think it's for losers. It's pretentious, for one thing, and it's a bore. Which is to say, it's exactly the opposite of the writing it's trying to describe.)
I will agree with other reviewers here that complained that they came across some of these essays before and therefore the collection did not seem fresh. Ira writes that "some of the stories are very well known" but were included because the writers were trying to document remarkable experiences and the stories were "built around original reporting of one sort of another." You should view the stories in this book as a whole, even if you might have come across a few of them before. There is merit in assembling these stories in a collection which becomes evident after you finish the book. This story collection works because Ira is able to spot that certain something in a story or style or reporting that is original-but not novel, entertaining-but humane. You're purchasing the vision of Ira Glass in The New Kings of Non-Fiction and it's worth every penny if it were quadruple the price.
Stories included:
Johnathan Lebed's Extracurricular Activities - Michael Lewis
Toxic Dreams: A California Town Finds Meaning In An Acid Pit - Jack Hitt
Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg - Malcolm Gladwell
Shapinsky's Karma - Lawrence Weschler
The American Man, Age Ten - Susan Orlean
Among The Thugs - Bill Buford
Crazy Things Seem Normal, Normal Things Seem Crazy - Chuck Klosterman
Host - David Foster Wallace
Tales of the Tyrant - Mark Bowden
Losing The War - Lee Sandlin
The Hostess Diaries: My Year At A Hot Spot - Coco Hensen Scales
My Republican Journey - Dan Savage
Power Steer - Michael Pollan
Fortune's Smile: World Series of Poker - James McManus
I'd also recommend The Best American Essays 2007 (The Best American Series (TM)) edited by David Foster Wallace. Another good collection of stories by an editor with excellent taste.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The New Kings of Nonfiction
A collection of stories-some well known, some more obscure- capturing some of the best storytelling of this golden age of nonfiction. An anthology of the best new masters of nonfiction storytelling, personally chosen and introduced by Ira Glass, the producer and host of the award-winning public radio program This American Life. These pieces-on teenage white collar criminals, buying a cow, Saddam Hussein, drunken British soccer culture, and how we know everyone in our Rolodex-are meant to mesmerize and inspire.
Click here for more information about The New Kings of Nonfiction
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