Lawrence Wright Explains his Writing Process

Full interview with Lawrence Wright in the Longform podcast #83, part 2, March, 2014

Race/Ethnicity

• “Make America White Again” by Toni Morrison, the New Yorker: 14 November, 2016

• “When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code” by Kayla Lattimore, NPR: 17 July, 2017

Gender

“How to Raise a Sweet Son in an Era of Angry Men” by Faith Salie, Time: 1 December, 2017

Gonzo in Video Format?

Examples of Andrew Callaghan’s journalism. Is this a new version of gonzo? Explore “All Gas No Brakes” (now defunct) and his latest YouTube Channel “Channel 5”.

See also his reporting from the Q Conference "God and Country Patriot Roundup" under the topic “Truthers” on this site.

Channel 5 also has a deeper dig into San Francisco. The video opens with Fentanyl exposé and a carjacking, and it just gets more intense from there. The video is too long to link to here, but it can be found on YouTube here.

Gonzo and

“The Kentucky Derby”

• “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved” by Hunter S. Thompson, first printed in Scanlan’s Monthly, vol. 1, no. 4, June 1970 – full text

• “An artist recalls his drunk adventure at the 1970 Kentucky Derby with Hunter S. Thompson” by Thomas Novelly, Louisville Courier Journal, Published 9:45 am, 3 May, 2018

• “30 for 30 Shorts: Gonzo @ the Derby” – video about Hunter S. Thompson and writing about the writing of “The Kentucky Derby …”

About Gonzo Journalism in general

“Why gonzo journalism is crucial to our understanding of cities and their tribes” by Bradley L Garrett, The Guardian: 20 May, 2015 (links to article)

S-Town

• Listen to the podcast here.

• Listen to examples of the Alabama dialect here.

• If you want to know more about the Alabama dialect, do some research online or read International English – a Guide to the Varieties of Standard English by Trudgill and Hannah which describes the dialects of the lower Southern and inland Southern dialect of North America. 

Indian Matchmaking - further analysis

• “Indian Matchmaking Only Scratches the Surface of a Big Problem” by Sonia Saraiya Vanity Fair: 27 July, 2020 

• “Indian Matchmaking & Sima Taparia: Reality show or Reality check?” by Dhruv Rathee, Netflix India: 9 Sept., 2020. 

• U Up? “The One Where We Talk about Indian Matchmaking ft. Aparna Shewakramani”, 30 August, 2020.

• “Documentaries vs. Reality TV: How They Shape Truth” Wisecrack: 15 Oct. 2019 

• “How reality TV shows cast the right people” Vox: 11 Sept., 2020. 

• “Indian Matchmaking creator Smriti Mundhra welcomes backlash” by Lisa Respers France, CNN: 29 July, 2020

• “Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking Is The Talk Of India — And Not In A Good Way” by Shushmita Pathak, NPR: 26 July, 2020

Dig deeper …

Articles

• “Gardening Means War” by Michael Pollan, the New York Times Magazine: June 1988

• “The Incredible Buddha Boy” by George Saunders, GQ: June 2006

• “Blues Cruise” by Joe Hagan, New York: Dec. 2012

• “150 Minutes of Hell” by Lizzie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Dec. 2018

• “They Went off the Grid. They Came Back to the Coronavirus.” by Charlie Warzel, the New York Times: 17 March, 2020

• “Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream” by Latria Graham, Outside: 21 September, 2020

Books

• The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, Picador: 2011

• Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf: 2013

Podcasts

• The Butterfly Effect by Jon Ronson, Audible: 2017

• “The End of Empathy”, Invisibilia, S 05, EP 06, NRP: 12 April, 2019 

• The Last Days of August by Jon Ronson, Audible: 2019

• The Daily hosted by Michael Barbaro, the New York Times

• This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, NPR

Suggestions for sports writing

• Paper Lion by George Plimpton, Harper & Row: 1966 (American football)

• Among the Thugs: The Experience, and the Seduction, of Crowd Violence by Bill Buford,  Secker & Warburg: 1990  (football hooliganism)

• Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, W. W. Norton & Company: 2003 (baseball)

Documentaries

• Air Guitar Nation dir. Alexandra Lipsitz, Docuramafilms: 2006

• Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson dir. Alex Gibney. 2008

• Citizenfour dir. Laura Poitras, HBO documentaries, et al: 2014 

• Tickled dir. David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, Magnolia Pictures, et al: 2016

• Tiger King dir. Rebecca Chaiklin and Eric Goode, Netflix: 2020

Podcasts with interviews with narrative nonfiction creators

• The Longform podcast at longform.org interviews interesting narrative nonfiction/longform creators such podcasters, magazine and book writers, documentary directors and the like. It is hosted by Aaron Lammer, Max Linsky, and Evan Ratliff.

• Tape is a radio show about people who make radio, and it is hosted by Mooj Zadie and Mickey Capper.

• If you want to know more about Jon Ronson and the way he works, listen to the podcast Longform from 9 Oct 2013 where Ronson is interviewed by Evan Ratliff.

• Another famous writer who works with narrative journalism is Mary Roach. We have more info about her in our chapter about popular science and “explainers”. Check out the “This Much is True” chapter.