Category: World

Great journalism of the last 70 years – help!

I’m putting together a reader of around 20 articles for my students this year. These are pieces of journalism, not academic works, and I’m hoping to showcase a variety of stories, writing styles and places in it. The idea is to have them read great writing, learn about some key events and provide a starting point for discussions of issues in journalism, especially in foreign correspondence.

Right now, I have the following:

  1. Orwell, George: Down the Mine ; 1937
    From The Road to Wigan Pier
    Public domain: available at: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300011h.html
  2. Lee, Laurie: The Village that lost its Children; 1975
    From I can’t stay long, personal copy
  3. Chang, Leslie T. Going Out ; 2008
    In Factory Girls, personal copy
  4. Kapuscinki, Ryszard: The Soccer War, 1969
    In The Soccer War, personal copy
  5. Politkovskaya, Anna; Nord-Ost, the Latest Tale of Destruction; 2004
    From Putin’s Russia
    University library copy
  6. Shadid, Anthony Reporting from Baghdad, 2009
    Published in the Washington Post
    Available online at: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2010-International-Reporting
  7. Woodward, Bob and Bernstein, Carl: GOP Security Aide Among Five Arrested in Bugging Affair, Washington Post (1972)
    In Stories that Changed America, personal copy
  8. Alavi, Nasrin: Spreading the News 2005
    from We Are Iran, personal copy
  9. Pilger, John: In a Land of Fear, 1996 (article) and Inside Burma: Land of Fear (film)
    available at: http://johnpilger.com/articles/in-a-land-of-fear and at http://johnpilger.com/videos/inside-burma-land-of-fear
  10. Gourevitch, Philip: We Wish to Inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, 1999
  11. Seierstad, Asne: The Bookseller of Kabul, 2003

So, a fair amount of Africa (and there’s more, I want to include something by Michela Wrong as well, and I need to include the 1994 South African election (but I can’t find a good enough article), I need something on the fall of the Berlin wall or the collapse of the Soviet Union, but I can’t find the right one.

I have nothing on India, and am reluctant to include Dalrymple, since he’s more travelogue than journalism.

I have only one set in central America, and nothing in South America. Recommendations?

I have nothing from Oceania?

Possibly something lighter, less war-focused?

Is there a great example of sports reporting for a general audience I could include?

Environmental issues?

More women?

More less-white people? #

Any suggestions welcome, below in the comments, or direct to me.