Routledge Companion to American Literary Journalism

Taking a thematic approach, this new companion provides an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and international study of American literary journalism.

From the work of Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman to that of Joan Didion and Dorothy Parker, literary journalism is a genre that both reveals and shapes American history and identity. This volume not only calls attention to literary journalism as a distinctive genre but also provides a critical foundation for future scholarship. It brings together cutting-edge research from literary journalism scholars, examining historical perspectives; themes, venues, and genres across time; theoretical approaches and disciplinary intersections; and new directions for scholarly inquiry.

Provoking reconsideration and inquiry, while providing new historical interpretations, this companion recognizes, interacts with, and honors the tradition and legacies of American literary journalism scholarship. Engaging the work of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, African American studies, gender studies, visual studies, media studies, and American studies, in addition to journalism and literary studies, this book is perfect for students and scholars of those disciplines.

William E. Dow is Professor of American Literature at the Université Paris-Est (UPEM) and Professor of English at The American University of Paris. He is the author of the book Narrating Class in American Fiction (2009) and co-editor of Richard Wright: New Readings in the 21st Century (2011), Richard Wright in a Post-Racial Imaginary (2014), and Of Latitudes Unknown: James Baldwin's Radical Imagination (2019). He is also Associate Editor of Literary Journalism Studies (Northwestern University Press).
Roberta S. Maguire is the Oshkosh Northwestern Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She has published extensively on Albert Murray, including Conversations with Albert Murray (1998), as well as essays on Alice Childress, Anna Julia Cooper, Zora Neale Hurston, Lewis Nordan, and Walker Percy. An associate editor of Literary Journalism Studies, she served as the guest editor for the Fall 2013 special issue devoted to African American literary journalism.

Yoko Nakamura is a graduate student in Interdisciplinary Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Iowa. She holds a BA in International Economics and International Politics from the American University of Paris.