Leon Dash taught high school history and geography in Kenya for the Peace Corps.



Leon Dash taught high school history and geography in Kenya for the Peace Corps.

Magnificent Obsession
The Power of Passionate Writing

The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft
by Robert S. Boynton
Vintage Books. 496 pp., $13
By Julia M. Klein

Jonathan Harr, the author of A Civil Action, spent eight harrowing years plowing through a stack of legal documents as high as a three-story building, and nearly went broke in the process. Posing what he calls “the dumbest questions in the world,” Richard Ben Cramer conducted more than 1,000 interviews to research What It Takes: The Way to the White House. For Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immersed herself in the love lives of drug dealers, while Ted Conover actually went to prison — as a guard — for Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing.

Dedication seems far too pallid a word for the feats of obsession chronicled in Robert S. Boynton’s The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft. What it takes to belong to this elite company is the ardor to burrow inside a subject, the skill to win confidences, and the stamina to persist through inevitable setbacks — as well as to transform voluminous raw material into graceful, compelling prose. These journalists all care about accuracy and fairness. But by and large, they have transcended the profession’s shibboleths about objectivity. While their style is sometimes cool and dispassionate, their sympathies are usually clear. In fact, each writer’s sensibility — Michael Lewis’s ironic worldview, Eric Schlosser’s muckraking zeal, Alex Kotlowitz’s empathy for the unfortunate — is part of what he (or, in rare instances, she) is selling.

[Excerpt]

Leon Dash taught high school history and geography in Kenya for the Peace Corps.

On ethical issues, including whether to compensate interview subjects, there is no agreement — except that these issues can be hard ones. Dash, a former Washington Post reporter whose Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America (Basic Books, 1996) is an intimate chronicle of poverty, says he resolutely refused to give money to his subjects, or to accept gifts from them. He was, however, willing to treat the eponymous Rosa Lee to restaurant meals and even cigarettes. Kotlowitz dealt with people in similarly desperate straits in There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1991). But once he finished the book, he not only set up a trust fund for the boys, but helped them gain admission to private schools. Whatever the time lag, he violated journalism’s equivalent of Star Trek’s Prime Directive — by daring to intervene in, and improve, the lives he touched.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. 19 Mar 2005

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March's Feature Stories - only on PCOL Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets

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March 19, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News New Jersey RPCVs host exhibit in Maplewood on April 2 20 Mar Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar Illinois RPCVs present "Life on the Big Red Island" 13 Mar San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs held fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 19, 2005: This Week's Top Stories RPCV points out catalytic effect of Iraq 19 Mar PCVs set up Basketball pool in Ukraine 19 Mar Sam Farr introduces bill to monitor ocean fisheries 18 Mar Bridgeland does not rule out run for Congress 18 Mar Jim Doyle promotes Institute for Discovery 18 Mar Newspaper says Bangladesh is safe for PCVs 18 Mar Joan Ruddiman revisits Peter Hessler's "River World" 17 Mar Mark Schneider says Save Haiti from more violence 17 Mar Troy Johnson joins delegation to Indonesia 17 Mar Chris Shays says baseball not exempt from the law 17 Mar "Hurlyburly" benefits gypsy women in Romania 15 Mar Chris Matthews interviews Schwarzenegger 14 Mar Fred Burke dies in NJ, trained early PCVs 13 Mar Mike Honda introduces Student Privacy Protection Act 13 Mar FT details Cheney-McPherson relationship 13 Mar Tucker McCravy reports on Tsunami Reconstruction 10 Mar Dennis Braddock retires with record of accomplishment 9 Mar

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

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