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Reporting: Writings from The New Yorker
David Remnick is a writer with a rare gift for making readers understand the hearts and minds of our public figures. Whether it’s the decline and fall of Mike Tyson, Al Gore’s struggle to move forward after his loss in the 2000 election, or Vladimir Putin dealing with Gorbachev’s legacy, Remnick brings his subjects to life with extraordinary clarity and depth. In Reporting , he gives us his best writing from the past fifteen years, ranging from American politics and culture to post-Soviet Russia to the Middle East conflict; from Tony Blair grappling with Iraq, to Philip Roth making sense of America’s past, to the rise of Hamas in Palestine. Both intimate and deeply informed by history, Reporting is an exciting and panoramic portrait of our times.
483 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
47 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
About the author
David Remnick
220 books388 followersDavid Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer, and magazine editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin s Tomb The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998. He was named Editor of the Year by Advertising Age in 2000. Before joining The New Yorker, Remnick was a reporter and the Moscow correspondent for The Washington Post. He has also served on the New York Public Library’s board of trustees. In 2010 he published his sixth book, The Bridge The Life and Rise of Barack Obama.
Remnick was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of a dentist, Edward C. Remnick, and an art teacher, Barbara (Seigel). He was raised in Hillsdale, New Jersey, in a secular Jewish home with, he has said, “a lot of books around.” He is also childhood friends with comedian Bill Maher. He graduated from Princeton University in 1981 with an A.B. in comparative literature; there, he met writer John McPhee and helped found The Nassau Weekly. Remnick has implied that after college he wanted to write novels, but due to his parents’ illnesses, he needed a paying job—there was no trust fund to rely on. Remnick wanted to be a writer, so he chose a career in journalism, taking a job at The Washington Post. He is married to reporter Esther Fein of The New York Times and has three children, Alex, Noah, and Natasha. He enjoys jazz music and classic cinema and is fluent in Russian.
He began his reporting career at The Washington Post in 1982 shortly after his graduation from Princeton. His first assignment was to cover the United States Football League. After six years, in 1988, he became the newspaper’s Moscow correspondent, which provided him with the material for Lenin's Tomb. He also received the George Polk Award for excellence in journalism.
Remnick became a staff writer at The New Yorker in September, 1992, after ten years at The Washington Post.
Remnick’s 1997 New Yorker article “Kid Dynamite Blows Up,” about boxer Mike Tyson, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 1998 he became editor, succeeding Tina Brown. Remnick promoted Hendrik Hertzberg, a former Jimmy Carter speechwriter and former editor of The New Republic, to write the lead pieces in “Talk of the Town,” the magazine’s opening section. In 2005 Remnick earned $1 million for his work as the magazine’s editor.
In 2003 he wrote an editorial supporting the Iraq war in the days when it started. In 2004, for the first time in its 80-year history, The New Yorker endorsed a presidential candidate, John Kerry.
In May 2009, Remnick was featured in a long-form Twitter account of Dan Baum’s career as a New Yorker staff writer. The tweets, written over the course of a week, described the difficult relationship between Baum and Remnick, his editor.
Remnick’s biography of President Barack Obama, The Bridge, was released on April 6, 2010. It features hundreds of interviews with friends, colleagues, and other witnesses to Obama’s rise to the presidency of the United States. The book has been widely reviewed in journals.
In 2010 Remnick lent his support to the campaign urging the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of ordering the murder of her husband by her lover and adultery.
In 2013 Remnick ’81 was the guest speaker at Princeton University Class Day.
Remnick provided guest commentary and contributed to NBC coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia including the opening ceremony and commentary for NBC News.
Remnick was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of a dentist, Edward C. Remnick, and an art teacher, Barbara (Seigel). He was raised in Hillsdale, New Jersey, in a secular Jewish home with, he has said, “a lot of books around.” He is also childhood friends with comedian Bill Maher. He graduated from Princeton University in 1981 with an A.B. in comparative literature; there, he met writer John McPhee and helped found The Nassau Weekly. Remnick has implied that after college he wanted to write novels, but due to his parents’ illnesses, he needed a paying job—there was no trust fund to rely on. Remnick wanted to be a writer, so he chose a career in journalism, taking a job at The Washington Post. He is married to reporter Esther Fein of The New York Times and has three children, Alex, Noah, and Natasha. He enjoys jazz music and classic cinema and is fluent in Russian.
He began his reporting career at The Washington Post in 1982 shortly after his graduation from Princeton. His first assignment was to cover the United States Football League. After six years, in 1988, he became the newspaper’s Moscow correspondent, which provided him with the material for Lenin's Tomb. He also received the George Polk Award for excellence in journalism.
Remnick became a staff writer at The New Yorker in September, 1992, after ten years at The Washington Post.
Remnick’s 1997 New Yorker article “Kid Dynamite Blows Up,” about boxer Mike Tyson, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 1998 he became editor, succeeding Tina Brown. Remnick promoted Hendrik Hertzberg, a former Jimmy Carter speechwriter and former editor of The New Republic, to write the lead pieces in “Talk of the Town,” the magazine’s opening section. In 2005 Remnick earned $1 million for his work as the magazine’s editor.
In 2003 he wrote an editorial supporting the Iraq war in the days when it started. In 2004, for the first time in its 80-year history, The New Yorker endorsed a presidential candidate, John Kerry.
In May 2009, Remnick was featured in a long-form Twitter account of Dan Baum’s career as a New Yorker staff writer. The tweets, written over the course of a week, described the difficult relationship between Baum and Remnick, his editor.
Remnick’s biography of President Barack Obama, The Bridge, was released on April 6, 2010. It features hundreds of interviews with friends, colleagues, and other witnesses to Obama’s rise to the presidency of the United States. The book has been widely reviewed in journals.
In 2010 Remnick lent his support to the campaign urging the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of ordering the murder of her husband by her lover and adultery.
In 2013 Remnick ’81 was the guest speaker at Princeton University Class Day.
Remnick provided guest commentary and contributed to NBC coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia including the opening ceremony and commentary for NBC News.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 3, 2010
Have you ever dreamed to see Mike Tyson and Tony Blair fighting for the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World with Don King on the right corner of the ring and Gordon Brown on the left one?
Well, there you are guys.
Make your bet, please.
The match takes place in Moscow's Red Square.
Vladimir Putin wearing a bikini and a miniskirt is holding the signs of the rounds in the intervals.
Boris Yeltsin is standing on the rooftop of Saint Basil's Cathedral advertising Pizza Hut's special offers with a megaphone.
Don De Lillo is passing by with a tray selling nuts and sodas.
Al Gore is just behind him, picking up the nutshells and empty cans for recycling them.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vaclav Havel are playing "Risk" sitting cross-legged on a smaller ring below the GUM's roof. A Tass dispatch says that Havel just conquered Kamchatka. Mick Jagger paints it black.
Philip Roth is masturbating himself close to the Lenin's Mausoleum dreaming to marry a young communist.
In a not very distant dacha, this is just another day in the life of Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn.
David Remnick reports. He made it all.
And these writings of him are better than a Barnum show.
Well, there you are guys.
Make your bet, please.
The match takes place in Moscow's Red Square.
Vladimir Putin wearing a bikini and a miniskirt is holding the signs of the rounds in the intervals.
Boris Yeltsin is standing on the rooftop of Saint Basil's Cathedral advertising Pizza Hut's special offers with a megaphone.
Don De Lillo is passing by with a tray selling nuts and sodas.
Al Gore is just behind him, picking up the nutshells and empty cans for recycling them.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vaclav Havel are playing "Risk" sitting cross-legged on a smaller ring below the GUM's roof. A Tass dispatch says that Havel just conquered Kamchatka. Mick Jagger paints it black.
Philip Roth is masturbating himself close to the Lenin's Mausoleum dreaming to marry a young communist.
In a not very distant dacha, this is just another day in the life of Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn.
David Remnick reports. He made it all.
And these writings of him are better than a Barnum show.
April 20, 2010
This guy might be the smartest, hippest guy alive. Imagine, being the editor of New Yorker and in the position of picking the most interesting writing from the most popular literary magazine in the country. Saw him on Charlie Rose talking about The Bridge, his book about Obama before the presidency. So smart, so neutral...classic old time journalism.
March 18, 2019
This book is a collection of articles about well known people, mainly political figures. He presents a perspective of each that is based on both intimate and broadly gathered information. Just not my field of interest, no matter how hard I tried 😐
May 31, 2018
Un extraordinario libro para entender doce figuras claves de nuestro tiempo. Cada capítulo es una de esas personalidades, leemos sobre políticos como Al Gore, Blair, Havel, Putin, Netanyahu, Arafat, escritores como Roth, DeLillo, Solzhenitsin u Oz, un músico como Springsteen o la antigua directora del Washington post Graham. Un libro realmente fantástico.
January 4, 2010
Every Remnick article included in the book is a gem. The Solzhenitsyn is particularly terrific. A great quote: "In a tyranny, a real writer is like a second government."
March 3, 2024
I’d say the book is mainly bio pieces on well-known figures, from the late 1990s/early 2000s. I read the bios selectively.
The piece on Al Gore alone makes this book worth it. Gore was not a natural pol and it showed. He didn’t sell well nationally, particularly against “aw shucks” Bush II. Meeting with delegates in 2000 by videoconference, Remnick writes that “all Gore had to do was “say a few nice words” and call it good. But, “Then something strange happened - strange if you’ve never been in the presence of Al Gore. At the instant he was asked to perform, his whole body straightened. He smiled a little…too much….His voice started into that up-and-down Southern rhythm…, which was meant to be charming and soothing but so often seemed patronizing and irritating.”
In his critique of Bush’s foreign policy in 2002, Gore correctly predicted the chaos that would ensue after a military victory in Iraq by saying that it “could easily pose a greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.” Gore says that Bush couldn’t stand up to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz on foreign policy because he was weak (I’d add to that by saying that Bush deferred to them because they had the experience that he, Bush, did not, so it was easy to be led around by these veteran voices). Gore also said that, post Goldwater in 1964, American conservatives became “determined to ‘play a long game’ and organize themselves ideologically, financially, and intellectually, to win national elections and carry out a conservative revolution.” And that’s where the USA is today.
The bio pieces on Putin and Netanyahu were also good. They give peaks about who they were just as they ascended to power (late 1990s). The warning signs about Putin were not evident then. He was about establishing order first and foremost, as the prerequisite to modernizing Russia. Remnik points out that Putin even reached out to Bush after 9/11, to offer his support in the international war against terrorism. At some point, Putin went south as they say, turning hard against the West. Unlike Putin, the warning signs were clearly evident back in the 1990s with Netanyahu who, Remnik points out, was heavily influenced by Netanyahu’s father. The Jews, and Israel, must prevail at all cost and that means never giving back any territory “fairly won.” What Remnik is clear about is that it’s not just for political convenience that Netanyahu is aligned with the Israeli right. That’s also who he is, at his heart.
The piece on Al Gore alone makes this book worth it. Gore was not a natural pol and it showed. He didn’t sell well nationally, particularly against “aw shucks” Bush II. Meeting with delegates in 2000 by videoconference, Remnick writes that “all Gore had to do was “say a few nice words” and call it good. But, “Then something strange happened - strange if you’ve never been in the presence of Al Gore. At the instant he was asked to perform, his whole body straightened. He smiled a little…too much….His voice started into that up-and-down Southern rhythm…, which was meant to be charming and soothing but so often seemed patronizing and irritating.”
In his critique of Bush’s foreign policy in 2002, Gore correctly predicted the chaos that would ensue after a military victory in Iraq by saying that it “could easily pose a greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.” Gore says that Bush couldn’t stand up to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz on foreign policy because he was weak (I’d add to that by saying that Bush deferred to them because they had the experience that he, Bush, did not, so it was easy to be led around by these veteran voices). Gore also said that, post Goldwater in 1964, American conservatives became “determined to ‘play a long game’ and organize themselves ideologically, financially, and intellectually, to win national elections and carry out a conservative revolution.” And that’s where the USA is today.
The bio pieces on Putin and Netanyahu were also good. They give peaks about who they were just as they ascended to power (late 1990s). The warning signs about Putin were not evident then. He was about establishing order first and foremost, as the prerequisite to modernizing Russia. Remnik points out that Putin even reached out to Bush after 9/11, to offer his support in the international war against terrorism. At some point, Putin went south as they say, turning hard against the West. Unlike Putin, the warning signs were clearly evident back in the 1990s with Netanyahu who, Remnik points out, was heavily influenced by Netanyahu’s father. The Jews, and Israel, must prevail at all cost and that means never giving back any territory “fairly won.” What Remnik is clear about is that it’s not just for political convenience that Netanyahu is aligned with the Israeli right. That’s also who he is, at his heart.
July 16, 2025
A very good friend sent me this ebook as a gift and I’ve been slowly working my way through it. Unsurprisingly, it’s very well-written, and because it is a collection of magazine articles, it acts as an interesting time capsule. How was Al Gore thought of in the years shortly after the 2000 election? What is a controversial novelist living like in the 1990s?
I was drawn in by how relevant the sections remained. Multiple articles on post-Soviet Russia laid the groundwork for Putin’s long reign, which is framed as largely boring in one of the pieces here. A large section on Israeli politics and Palestine was almost painful to read at times; it all felt too fresh. Even the section on boxing reminded me that Mike Tyson boxed pretty recently.
I was pleasantly surprised by the subjects that didn’t leap out to me at first but brought some curious ideas to my mind. Two piece in the Russian section stick out for this, ‘The Last Tsar’ about the many claimants to the throne in Russia, and ‘The Translation Wars’, about a couple who found that the leading English translations of classic Russian novels were largely written by one woman from years earlier, and she did a pretty awful job.
If it interests you, definitely check it out.
I was drawn in by how relevant the sections remained. Multiple articles on post-Soviet Russia laid the groundwork for Putin’s long reign, which is framed as largely boring in one of the pieces here. A large section on Israeli politics and Palestine was almost painful to read at times; it all felt too fresh. Even the section on boxing reminded me that Mike Tyson boxed pretty recently.
I was pleasantly surprised by the subjects that didn’t leap out to me at first but brought some curious ideas to my mind. Two piece in the Russian section stick out for this, ‘The Last Tsar’ about the many claimants to the throne in Russia, and ‘The Translation Wars’, about a couple who found that the leading English translations of classic Russian novels were largely written by one woman from years earlier, and she did a pretty awful job.
If it interests you, definitely check it out.
April 9, 2019
Remnick doesn't do flashy or self-regarding; he does (or at least this book delivers) intimate access to the very biggest-name politicians, writers, sportspeople and those close to them, and total trust in what he says. Some of the articles, while fascinating and informative, are a bit dated, but you can hardly fault the book for that - it's current affairs of sorts and was published in 2006. Ideally there'd be articles like this to read all the time. Sadly, Remnick is exceptional and books this good are few and far between.
August 8, 2018
I enjoyed this book tremendously, although I found the central section on Israel/Palestine a bit wearing and Remnick's writing style somewhat relentless after 500+ pages. The highlights are the chapters on Gore, Blair, and the boxing ones; the most interesting in retrospect is the portrayal of Putin as a rather faceless steady-pair-of-hands - how different things looked in 2006!
October 27, 2021
Una joya. Extraordinariamente ameno, múltiples anécdotas de personajes de la política, la literatura, el periodismo o la música. Entre otros, Tony Blair, Katharine Graham, Phillip Roth, Putin y la Rusia postcomunista, Bruce Springsteen, Netanyahu y Amos Oz. David Remnick ha sido director del New Yorker y se le nota el oficio. Es un libro serio y a la vez muy divertido. No me quiero perder la tumba de Lenin. Los últimos días del Imperio soviético y El puente. Ya soy fan.
September 25, 2019
⭐️3.5⭐️
“Pienso que la ficción proviene de todo lo que has hecho, dicho, soñado e imaginado a lo largo de tu vida. Nace de todas las cosas que están en el aire.”
“Pienso que la ficción proviene de todo lo que has hecho, dicho, soñado e imaginado a lo largo de tu vida. Nace de todas las cosas que están en el aire.”
April 23, 2020
Interesantes reportajes. Me gustaron el de Al Gore y Bruce Springsteen. Un ejemplo de buen periodismo.
October 7, 2025
Reporting
This compilation contains articles from newyorker magazine covering soviet inion before the break up israel and middle east and finally heavy weight boxing.
This compilation contains articles from newyorker magazine covering soviet inion before the break up israel and middle east and finally heavy weight boxing.
August 30, 2008
Tom Wolfe escreveu em 1973 que “a literatura mais importante escrita hoje na América é a de não-ficção”. Ele se referia ao movimento que surgiu com autores como Truman Capote, Gay Talese e Jimmy Breslin, e ao qual foi dado – não se sabe por quem, ou ao menos Wolfe não sabe – o nome de Novo Jornalismo.
Diferente das matérias tradicionais dos jornais, os textos do Novo Jornalismo atingiram a longevidade e são lidos até hoje. Entre eles A Sangue Frio e Hiroshima, publicados na revista The New Yorker. Mas não só naqueles tempos surgiram grandes obras. As gerações mais recentes da revista nova-iorquina puderam ver a publicação original de várias das reportagens reunidas no livro Dentro da Floresta, uma coletânea de matérias escritas pelo atual editor-chefe da New Yorker, David Remnick, entre 1994 e 2006. É o bom jorna-lismo, influenciado por grandes nomes, que sai das bancas e chega às livrarias; mesmo que o fato relatado tenha acontecido há 15 anos.
A atemporalidade se reflete na organização do livro, que não segue uma ordem cronológica. As reportagens são separadas em cinco temas: poder (que inclui políticos, uma editora temida e o furacão Katrina), literatura, Rússia, Israel e Palestina, e boxe. Não é à toa que o título original do livro seja Reporting; David Remnick mostra sua aptidão de repórter em cada texto, na percepção de detalhes, conexão de fatos e descrição de cenas.
O livro começa com os perfis de Al Gore e Katherine Graham. O primeiro é bem-humorado e retrata o “ex-futuro-presidente” dos Estados Unidos como um sujeito desajeitado e ao mesmo tempo um homem que tenta manter a dignidade frente ao país que quase o elegeu. Ao contar a história de Graham, editora do Washington Post, no posto durante o caso de Watergate, o tom é outro. O relato é sensível, mostrando as fragilidades de uma mulher tão respeitada. Em ambos os casos, Remnick traz o lado mais humano dos perfilados, aproximando-as do leitor.
O mesmo se dá com os escritores. Os perfis falam do ofício de escrever; não tratam a literatura como um talento criativo inato, mas como uma profissão e um esforço diário. Parece bastante conveniente que os escritores retratados e citados por David Remnick estejam quase todos nos catálogos da Companhia das Letras: Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, Vladimir Nabokov, Amós Oz. As reportagens instigam a procura desses autores. É ainda mais interessante ler Fantasma sai de cena, o último lançamento de Roth no Brasil, conhecendo o cotidiano solitário de sua casa em Conneticut.
Nessas histórias, a New Yorker também é uma personagem. Seja como meio de publicação para esses autores ou como uma cópia contraban-deada da qual a jovem russa Larissa Volokhonsky traduziu um poema para o russo. Larissa e seu marido, Richard Pevear, são o centro de uma reportagem sem atualidade ou “importância jornalística” alguma. Porém um texto brilhan-te e interessante sobre as traduções de obras da literatura russa. Não há lide; Remnick introduz a matéria contando uma história – como ele faz muito bem, sejam experiências próprias e até histórias que ninguém lhe contou. Através de cartas e publicações, ele relata o início e o fim da amizade entre os escritores Vladimir Nabokov e Edmund Wilson, que romperam relações por causa de uma tradução.
Mesmo para narrar um fato inegavelmente jornalístico – a luta de Tyson contra Holyfield, que acabou com uma mordida na orelha do segundo – Remnick não apenas traça um perfil brutal do lutador, mas esboça uma pequena história do boxe americano. Com apenas uma breve e discreta refe-rência no início, ele só fala da luta no final. É a subversão do modelo predominante de jornalismo em sua melhor forma.
Diferente das matérias tradicionais dos jornais, os textos do Novo Jornalismo atingiram a longevidade e são lidos até hoje. Entre eles A Sangue Frio e Hiroshima, publicados na revista The New Yorker. Mas não só naqueles tempos surgiram grandes obras. As gerações mais recentes da revista nova-iorquina puderam ver a publicação original de várias das reportagens reunidas no livro Dentro da Floresta, uma coletânea de matérias escritas pelo atual editor-chefe da New Yorker, David Remnick, entre 1994 e 2006. É o bom jorna-lismo, influenciado por grandes nomes, que sai das bancas e chega às livrarias; mesmo que o fato relatado tenha acontecido há 15 anos.
A atemporalidade se reflete na organização do livro, que não segue uma ordem cronológica. As reportagens são separadas em cinco temas: poder (que inclui políticos, uma editora temida e o furacão Katrina), literatura, Rússia, Israel e Palestina, e boxe. Não é à toa que o título original do livro seja Reporting; David Remnick mostra sua aptidão de repórter em cada texto, na percepção de detalhes, conexão de fatos e descrição de cenas.
O livro começa com os perfis de Al Gore e Katherine Graham. O primeiro é bem-humorado e retrata o “ex-futuro-presidente” dos Estados Unidos como um sujeito desajeitado e ao mesmo tempo um homem que tenta manter a dignidade frente ao país que quase o elegeu. Ao contar a história de Graham, editora do Washington Post, no posto durante o caso de Watergate, o tom é outro. O relato é sensível, mostrando as fragilidades de uma mulher tão respeitada. Em ambos os casos, Remnick traz o lado mais humano dos perfilados, aproximando-as do leitor.
O mesmo se dá com os escritores. Os perfis falam do ofício de escrever; não tratam a literatura como um talento criativo inato, mas como uma profissão e um esforço diário. Parece bastante conveniente que os escritores retratados e citados por David Remnick estejam quase todos nos catálogos da Companhia das Letras: Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, Vladimir Nabokov, Amós Oz. As reportagens instigam a procura desses autores. É ainda mais interessante ler Fantasma sai de cena, o último lançamento de Roth no Brasil, conhecendo o cotidiano solitário de sua casa em Conneticut.
Nessas histórias, a New Yorker também é uma personagem. Seja como meio de publicação para esses autores ou como uma cópia contraban-deada da qual a jovem russa Larissa Volokhonsky traduziu um poema para o russo. Larissa e seu marido, Richard Pevear, são o centro de uma reportagem sem atualidade ou “importância jornalística” alguma. Porém um texto brilhan-te e interessante sobre as traduções de obras da literatura russa. Não há lide; Remnick introduz a matéria contando uma história – como ele faz muito bem, sejam experiências próprias e até histórias que ninguém lhe contou. Através de cartas e publicações, ele relata o início e o fim da amizade entre os escritores Vladimir Nabokov e Edmund Wilson, que romperam relações por causa de uma tradução.
Mesmo para narrar um fato inegavelmente jornalístico – a luta de Tyson contra Holyfield, que acabou com uma mordida na orelha do segundo – Remnick não apenas traça um perfil brutal do lutador, mas esboça uma pequena história do boxe americano. Com apenas uma breve e discreta refe-rência no início, ele só fala da luta no final. É a subversão do modelo predominante de jornalismo em sua melhor forma.
April 10, 2013
A collection of current New Yorker editor David Remnick's essays, Reporting is a nice collection but it's also kind of a mixed bag. I suppose this happens with any collection of journalism: these were written more or less on deadline around ten years (or longer) ago. So we already know what happened next. This is what made some of these essays really come off as dated: like the one about how Ariel Sharon or the one about how Vladimir Putin. Whee he tries to imagine what the future held for these people, well, we have the benefit of hindsight. But try to not let that get in your way, since these are well-written and well-researched pieces of journalism.
The book's split more or less into sections, with the pieces ranging from profile stories to short Talk of the Town pieces to longer enterprise/think-piece stories. There's a section filled with literary profiles on Don DeLillo, Solzhenitsyn and Philip Roth. Others include Russia and the middle east. The last section (my favorite, actually) is on boxing, or more specifically, on Mike Tyson. When Remnick's writing is at it's best, he's been set loose somewhere big, either right before some action (like before the Tyson/Evander Holyfield fight) or right after, like in his piece about New Orleans post-Katrina.
On the whole, it's a good collection of non-fiction and although I wouldn't rank it among the best collection of New Yorker material I've read (that honor still goes to Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer), it's still worth a read if you're a fan of the magazine or of Remnick's other books.
The book's split more or less into sections, with the pieces ranging from profile stories to short Talk of the Town pieces to longer enterprise/think-piece stories. There's a section filled with literary profiles on Don DeLillo, Solzhenitsyn and Philip Roth. Others include Russia and the middle east. The last section (my favorite, actually) is on boxing, or more specifically, on Mike Tyson. When Remnick's writing is at it's best, he's been set loose somewhere big, either right before some action (like before the Tyson/Evander Holyfield fight) or right after, like in his piece about New Orleans post-Katrina.
On the whole, it's a good collection of non-fiction and although I wouldn't rank it among the best collection of New Yorker material I've read (that honor still goes to Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer), it's still worth a read if you're a fan of the magazine or of Remnick's other books.
July 3, 2007
Amazing collection of profiles including Benjamin Netanyahu, Mike Tyson, Tony Blair, and more. The book has five sections: one on Washington politics (included a horrifying article on Katrina), one on authors (Philip Roth included), one with Russian politics, language(learn why Vladimir Putin tries to be boring), Israeli section, including Palestinian and Israeli profiles, and the last on sports figures.
February 9, 2009
"Freedom! To fill people's mailboxes, eyes, ears and brains with commercial rubbish against their will, television programs that are impossible to watch with a sense of coherence. Freedom! To force information on people, taking no account of their right not to accept it or their right of peace of mind. Freedom! To spit in the eyes and souls of passersby with advertisements."
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - quoted in Remnick, D. Reporting, 2006)
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - quoted in Remnick, D. Reporting, 2006)
June 13, 2013
Shining collection of journalism from the legendary New Yorker editor and Pulitzer-Prize winner.
Highlights include The Exile: Solzhenitsyn in Vermont, and my favourite piece, Kid Dynamite Blows Up. The latter (and all the boxing pieces) successfully mine the same seam opened in his earlier book on Muhammad Ali, King of the World, with the same knack of traveling from the boxer's nervous system to the outer edges of an entire culture.
Highlights include The Exile: Solzhenitsyn in Vermont, and my favourite piece, Kid Dynamite Blows Up. The latter (and all the boxing pieces) successfully mine the same seam opened in his earlier book on Muhammad Ali, King of the World, with the same knack of traveling from the boxer's nervous system to the outer edges of an entire culture.
October 9, 2013
Remnick's book offers a lot of details on the people he profiled, none of which insightful or original. His book can be passed off as a wikipedia-like reference of famous people, if not for his tendency to make endless references to pop culture, interviews, and descriptions of mundane and stereotypical behaviors or events. In short, "Reporting" offers nothing more than a much shorter profile readily available would do.
April 6, 2013
Great stuff to make sense of the world. Especially pieces 'Mrs Graham', on Philip Roth and the 'Translation Wars' took my interes. But everything on Russia, Israël, and even boxing were compelling enough to keep on reading. even if it clearly carries the 'sympoms' of its time - eg sentences like "it is expected that X will win the elections…"
March 25, 2016
3.5 stars. Top-notch writing by Remnick, but some/much of the content is obviously dated, 10 years after publication. Some of the most interesting essays were on subjects I did not expect to find interesting, so I want to get my hands on other Remnick collections and maybe have another go at his book on Obama, which I listed to some years ago.
January 9, 2010
What I learned from this book:
1. The definition of 63 words, including "rodomontade" and "omphalos"
2. Insights into contemporary cultural dynamics of Palestine and Israel
3. A modern history of the sport of boxing and its practitioners
1. The definition of 63 words, including "rodomontade" and "omphalos"
2. Insights into contemporary cultural dynamics of Palestine and Israel
3. A modern history of the sport of boxing and its practitioners
February 3, 2013
Articles from the editor of The New Yorker from mostly the 90s and 00s, published in 06. The articles are dense with detail but pacy too. There's some literary profiles and stuff on US politics but the bulk of this book is Remnick on Russia and Israel, where he is illuminating.
May 19, 2015
A través de esta recopilación de entrevistas Remnick deja claro porqué es uno de los máximos exponentes del periodismo estadounidense. El manejo de tópicos, el nivel de investigación y la seriedad con que enfrenta su trabajo deberían ser un ejemplo y una guía para los periodistas mexicanos.
February 2, 2009
my favourite stories are about katherine graham, solzhenitsyn (no idea how to pronounce this) and hurricane katrina. and i must admit i have a ginormous crush on remnick.
August 24, 2007
Honestly, I've barely cracked open the book yet.
March 19, 2008
wide ranging & fun
June 24, 2008
Profiles of world leaders from the past 2 decades by a journalist who knows how it's done. Hooah!
Currently reading
December 12, 2008so good.
February 17, 2010
jornalismo deveria ser para poucos.
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