# The New Journalism

The New Journalism is a 1973 anthology of journalism edited by Tom Wolfe and E. W. Johnson. The book is both a manifesto for a new type of journalism by Wolfe, and a collection of examples of New Journalism by American writers, covering a variety of subjects from the frivolous (baton twirling competitions) to the deadly serious (the Vietnam War). The pieces are notable because they do not conform to the standard dispassionate and even-handed model of journalism. Rather they incorporate literary devices usually only found in fictional works.

## Manifesto

The first section of the book consists of four previously published texts by Wolfe: The Feature Game and Like a Novel (published as The Birth of "The New Journalism": An Eyewitness Report and The New Journalism: A la Recherche des Whichy Thickets, in New York magazine, on February 14 and February 21, 1972); Seizing the Power and Appendix (published as Why They Aren't Writing the Great American Novel Anymore, in Esquire, December 1972).
The text is a diatribe against the American novel which Wolfe sees as having hit a dead end by moving away from realism, and his opinion that journalism is much more relevant. In effect, his manifesto is for mixing journalism with literary techniques to document in a more effective way than the novel. These techniques were most likely inspired by writers of social realism, such as Émile Zola and Charles Dickens. His manifesto for New Journalism (although he had no great affection for the term) has four main points.
* Scene by scene construction. Rather than rely on second-hand accounts and background information, Wolfe considers it necessary for the journalist to witness events first hand, and to recreate them for the reader.
* Dialogue. By recording dialogue as fully as possible, the journalist is not only reporting words, but defining and establishing character, as well as involving the reader.
* The third person. Instead of simply reporting the facts, the journalist has to give the reader a real feeling of the events and people involved. One technique for achieving this is to treat the protagonists like characters in a novel. What is their motivation? What are they thinking?
* Status details. Just as important as the characters and the events, are the surroundings, specifically what people surround themselves with. Wolfe describes these items as the tools for a "social autopsy", so we can see people as they see themselves.

## Anthology

Part two, which makes up the major part of The New Journalism, consists of twenty-four pieces, collected by Wolfe and Johnson. Every text features a short introduction, written by Wolfe.

### Texts

| Title | Author | First published | Magazine/newspaper first published in | Book published in |
| Excerpt from In Cold Blood | Truman Capote | September 25, 1965 | The New Yorker | In Cold Blood |
| Beth Ann and Macrobioticism | Robert Christgau | 1965 | New York Herald Tribune | - |
| Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream | Joan Didion | May 7, 1966 | The Saturday Evening Post | Slouching Towards Bethlehem |
| ‘That's What We Come to Minneapolis For,’ Stan Hough said | John Gregory Dunne | 1969 | - | The Studio |
| Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse | Joe Eszterhas | July 6, 1972 | Rolling Stone | Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse |
| La Dolce Viva | Barbara Goldsmith | April 29, 1968 | New York | - |
| Gear | Richard Goldstein | 1969 | The Village Voice | - |
| Khesanh | Michael Herr | September 1965 | Esquire | - |
| Excerpt from The Armies of the Night | Norman Mailer | March 1968 Under the title, "On the Steps of the Pentagon" | Harper's Magazine | The Armies of the Night |
| Excerpt from The Selling of the President 1968 | Joe McGinniss | 1969 | - | The Selling of the President 1968 |
| The Detective | James Mills | December 3, 1965 | Life | - |
| Excerpt from Paper Lion | George Plimpton | 1966 | - | Paper Lion |
| Ava: Life in the Afternoon | Rex Reed | May 1967 | Esquire | Do You Sleep in the Nude? |
| Timing and a Diversion: The Cocoa Game | "Adam Smith" (pen name for George Goodman) | 1967 | New York World Journal Tribune | The Money Game |
| Excerpt from M | John Sack | October 1966 | Esquire | M |
| Twirling at Ole Miss | Terry Southern | February 1963 | Esquire | Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes |
| The Soft Psyche of Joshua Logan | Gay Talese | April 1963 | Esquire | Fame and Obscurity |
| Excerpt from Hell's Angels | Hunter S. Thompson | 1966 | - | Hell's Angels |
| The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved | Hunter S. Thompson | June 1970 | Scanlan's Monthly | The Great Shark Hunt |
| The General Goes Zapping Charlie Cong | Nicholas Tomalin | June 5, 1966 | The Sunday Times | - |
| Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case | Garry Wills | August 1968 | Esquire | - |
| The Fugitive | Tom Wolfe | 1968 | - | The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test |
| Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers | Tom Wolfe | June 8, 1970 | New York | Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers |