Reads for journalism students

November 6th, 2008

	All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren, 1946. Often considered the “Great American Novel.” Earned Pulitzer Prize. Powerful novel about politics, love, good and evil, and the Great Depression.
	Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, Robert M. Pirsig, 1974. About philosophy. Pirsig searches for the origins of and examines the division between art and science. Author uses motorcycle trip with his son and events in his own life to illustrate well written philosophical discussion. Very powerful.
	Thirteen Stories (or similar works), Eudora Welty. A Southern writer, Welty writes some of the most charming and telling stories of common America. She can teach a hopeful writer that to pay attention to the people around you is a step toward great writing.
	The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939. The most powerful book written about the Great Depression and about what nearly permanently divided this country. A classic for many reasons.
	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 1962. The best work of a true folk hero of the 1960s. Story of individualism won, lost, and won again. The story is a familiar one, but Kesey tells it best.
	Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert M. Heinlein, 1968. Science fiction. Story of descendant of Earth scientific team sent to Mars. This Christ figure examines this culture, its religion, its sexual values, social rules, etc., in an increasingly insightful story.
	1984, George Orwell, 1949. Orwell projects a future ruled by two superpowers in which each government grasps the population in a culture in which secrecy is impossible, discontent is illegal, and freedom redefined as slavery. One of the most powerful books of this century.
	Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1969. It is within this work that Vonnegut shows there is always a new way to write. There are few writers who can within a few lines sketch the personality of characters better than Vonnegut, a Hoosier. A provocative look at modern man.
	Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1955. Probably the best novel about World War II. Through humor, irony, dialogue, Heller portrays the insanity of much of what we take for granted. Reveals the contradictions in which we pretend to make sane decisions.
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Hunter S. Thompson. It first appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine in November 1971. It is impossible to describe this story, but Thompson is the “prince” of gonzo, duke of discourse. (Portrayed as “Duke” in Doonesbury.)
	Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1962. Depicts a future world of testtube children in which relationships lose essential meaning but are filled with abundant sex. Provoking.
	The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey, 1975. Intriguing, enlightening novel from the Southwest about timely civil disobedience. Carries the environmental movement the next obvious step.
	Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler, 1940. Second in a series of novels featuring Chandler’s creation, private detective Philip Marlowe. A master storyteller, Chandler reveals how to set a scene and select detail in this, one of the best novels of its kind anywhere.
	Lake Wobegone Days, Garrison Keillor, 1985. Keillor, host of American Public Radio’s “Prairie Home Companion” (now only in repeats), is emerging not only as an articulate, poignant spokesman for mid-America but also an entertaining, insightful observer of people. A disgustingly good writer, too.
	The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925. Perhaps the best work from one of the leading American writers of the “lost generation.” Tragic story of the love of a very rich man of a woman — or dream — who is married and lives on the other side of the lake.
	In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway, 1958. Almost autobiographical, this focuses on Nick Adams in a series of short stories about maturing to adulthood in Michigan and learning the obvious but harsh lessons of the real world. Some of Hemingway’s best material.
	Family Linen, Lee Smith, 1985. This is the latest novel from a woman who Humanities Chairman Jim Blevins believes will eventually be recognized as one of this century’s best American writers. I agree that she can certainly write well. Also wrote Oral History.
	Moby Dick, Herman Melville. Today it is often read in high school, but those who have not read it should. Larger-than-life tale of good versus evil.
	Anatomy of a Murder, Robert Traver, 1958. Excellent story which teaches the reader all he or she needs to know about the American court system, and how it truly works.
	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884. Cornerstone of American literature, perhaps the greatest piece of writing from an American. Often banned (which says good things).