The Last Best Home for Journalism?

They fill the nonfiction best-seller lists lately — books on important issues from the Iraq War to global warming — a new one, it seems every week.

Are these books starting to replace traditional outlets, such as television, magazines, and newspapers, as our principal source of news? Is the nonfiction book “the last best home for journalism”?

New York Times labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse and a panel of writers and publishers will discuss these and other questions at the College of Communication conference The Nonfiction Book as the Last Best Home for Journalism, tomorrow, October 29, at 10 a.m. at the Howard Thurman Center. Other speakers include Ron Suskind, former Wall Street Journal senior national affairs writer and the author of The Way of the World, The One Percent Solution, and The Price of Loyalty; Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, the James M. Cox Professor of Journalism at Emory University; Fox Butterfield, an author and a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, who was the New York Times bureau chief in Saigon, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Boston; Dick Lehr, a COM professor of journalism, an author, and a former investigative reporter for the Boston Globe; and Mitchell Zuckoff, a COM professor of journalism, an author, and a former special projects reporter at the Boston Globe.

Greenhouse’s first book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker (Knopf, 2008), is an account of how American companies are clamping down on workers’ wages, cutting benefits, weakening job security, and violating wage and hour laws. He spoke to BU Today about what it takes to write a nonfiction book and why they are popular.

BU Today: What’s behind the popularity of these new, timely books?
Greenhouse: People see that there are serious problems in the nation and the world — two wars, an economic downturn, global warming, a hugely unpopular government — and they want to understand these problems better and figure out what to do about them. And there’s no better way to learn about big problems than by reading books.

I also think that political fever — this is the political season, with lots of books about the candidates, the parties, the issues — is another factor. Moreover, my sense is that as people turn away from newspapers in favor of the Internet, many feel they are not getting sufficient information or understanding of what’s going on, so nonfiction books are an obvious place for them to turn.

What makes a nonfiction book successful?
A nonfiction book needs to be a good read — the more riveting the better — and it needs to explain an important or fascinating aspect of the world or world history or someone’s life. And a nonfiction book should provide important information and analysis, or failing that, it should tell a good story. In writing The Big Squeeze, I tried very hard to keep things readable and lively. In seeking to describe how life has grown tougher for the nation’s workers, I wove together the stories of individual workers, trying to make them as moving as possible, with extensive analysis of economic, political, and business trends. I wanted readers to come away feeling that they have a far deeper understanding of what’s happening to the nation’s 145 million workers.

Do you think nonfiction books are replacing newspapers and television news programs as a principal source of journalism?
I don’t believe nonfiction books are replacing newspapers and television as a principal source of journalism. I believe nonfiction books are an important, indeed vital, supplement to journalism. As newspapers and television news focus less on long, intelligent, analytical pieces and more on the trivial — think Paris and Britney — books will of course play a more important role in supplementing journalism to explain what is happening in the world, whether it’s the war in Iraq, the financial meltdown, poverty in Africa, or the squeeze on America’s workers.

Does a writer have more creative freedom writing a nonfiction book, as opposed to a newspaper or magazine article?
I can’t speak for all authors, but generally a nonfiction book writer has more creative freedom than a journalist writing for a newspaper. As a book writer, you generally have more freedom over both substance and style. In journalism, editors have a larger say over what goes into what you write. In writing a book, you have far more freedom to shape your book and to decide what goes on each page.

Can journalists writing nonfiction books be subjective?
In writing a nonfiction book, I felt that I could be somewhat more subjective. When I write newspaper articles, I always feel I have to be not just fair, but scrupulously balanced, sometimes to the point of giving each side an equal number of paragraphs to present its point of view. In writing The Big Squeeze, I felt that I always had to be fair, but not as scrupulously balanced as I need to be in my newspaper stories. And in writing a book, I felt I could use a freer, more critical voice in writing about various types of wrongdoing, such as Wal-Mart stores locking in their workers at night or making employees work off the clock or a factory shirking safety requirements, and as a result, four workers having fingers amputated. In writing about such wrongdoing for a newspaper, I feel the need to use a less emotional, less judgmental voice.

What are the most important aspects of writing a nonfiction book?
It’s vital that a nonfiction book be readable and accessible. It’s also important that a book be clear and accurate. What did I always learn in journalism school: ABC — accuracy, brevity, clarity. That’s just as important in a book as in a newspaper story. In addition, it’s vital that you have something important or interesting to say. Otherwise, you’re probably wasting your readers’ time. Lastly, it’s vital that you believe 100 percent in what you’re writing — I believe that too many books nowadays are disingenuous tracts. If you don’t believe 100 percent in what you’re writing, then you’re probably trying to manipulate your readers. And again, you’re wasting their time.

The conference The Nonfiction Book as the Last Best Home for Journalism will take place Wednesday, October 29, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Howard Thurman Center in the basement of the George Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Ave. Admission is free. For more information, click here.

Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu.