Overview

An annotated guide to the work of the Pulitzer Prizewinning writer, teacher, and pioneer of creative nonfiction John McPhee has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965 and has written more than thirty acclaimed books that began on the magazine's pages. But few readers know or fully appreciate the true breadth of his writing. Looking for a Story is a complete reader's guide to McPhee's vast published work, documenting much rarely seen or connected with McPhee, including remarkable early writing for Time magazine published without his name. In chronicling McPhee's career where he broke ground applying devices long associated with fiction to the literature of fact, Noel Rubinton gives insights into McPhee's techniques, choice of subjects, and research methods, shedding light on how McPhee turns complicated subjects like geology into compelling stories. Beyond detailing more than seventy years of McPhee's writing, Rubinton recounts McPhee's half century as a Princeton University writing professor, a little known part of his legacy. McPhee inspired generations of students who wrote hundreds of books of their own, also catalogued here. With an incisive foreword by New Yorker staff writer and former McPhee student Peter Hessler, Looking for a Story also includes extensive annotated listings of articles about McPhee, reviews of his books, and interviews, readings, and speeches. Whether you are already an admirer of McPhee or new to his writings, this book provides an invaluable road map to his rich body of work.

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9780691244921

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Reviews

""Rubinton’s book offers McPhee’s fans a complete bibliographical and critical guide to his writings, from his earliest jottings, through years of NPR interviews, to books and essays. . . . The fact remains that you can still learn to write a sentence from McPhee: Readers can use this book as a guide."" * Kirkus Reviews * ""For those who know McPhee only from his three dozen books, Rubinton has panned gold from streams long forgotten.""---Jim Kelly, Air Mail ""The Princeton-based McPhee (still hanging in there at age 94) has reinvented the art of nonfiction reporting in his books and long essays for The New Yorker, and the story behind the story is just as compelling.""---Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer

""Rubinton’s book offers McPhee’s fans a complete bibliographical and critical guide to his writings, from his earliest jottings, through years of NPR interviews, to books and essays. . . . The fact remains that you can still learn to write a sentence from McPhee: Readers can use this book as a guide."" * Kirkus Reviews *

Author Information

Noel Rubinton is a journalist and strategic communications consultant whose writing has appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. He was a reporter and editor for Newsday for many years. Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker and his books include Other Rivers: A Chinese Education.

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