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A Crooked Line: The Perils and Rewards of a Life in Freelance Journalism
Paperback
Biographies GeneralWriting Instruction
Publisher Price: $18.95
PREORDER - Expected ship date March 9, 2027
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ISBN10: 1609522214
ISBN13: 9781609522216
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
Published: Mar 9 2027
Pages: 304
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781609522216
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
Published: Mar 9 2027
Pages: 304
Language: English
Here is a writer with a rare gift for appreciation and for reminding us of all we have to celebrate in our fractured world. --Pico Iyer, author of
The Half Known Life Behind the scenes of a globe-spanning career in freelance journalism Foreword by Tim Cahill A Crooked Line celebrates an age when print journalism changed lives and made the world a better place. That era may be winding down, but this perceptive book makes the case for why incisive writing will always matter. Over the course of his 40-year career, Michael Shapiro has reported from more than 20 countries, writing for National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and many other top publications. But the itinerant writer's life, while rewarding, has never been easy.
The Half Known Life Behind the scenes of a globe-spanning career in freelance journalism Foreword by Tim Cahill A Crooked Line celebrates an age when print journalism changed lives and made the world a better place. That era may be winding down, but this perceptive book makes the case for why incisive writing will always matter. Over the course of his 40-year career, Michael Shapiro has reported from more than 20 countries, writing for National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and many other top publications. But the itinerant writer's life, while rewarding, has never been easy.
Shapiro worked as an investigative reporter and staff writer for San Francisco Bay Area newspapers before letting go of a regular paycheck and setting out to share stories of people and places worldwide. The exhilarations of the open road, afoot and light-hearted as Whitman wrote, were tempered by the challenges of freelancing, from making a living to working with heavy-handed editors.
His stories put people first: For a feature about Puerto Rico's recovery after Hurricane Maria, he visited farmers who spoke of shifting from exporting produce to growing food for local people. His profile of a Yosemite photographer, who climbed Half Dome after being diagnosed with cancer, brought the man's big-hearted humanity to the fore.
Shapiro is known as a travel writer, but his work goes far beyond global dispatches. In this book he shares stories of:
- saving Sunset magazine's priceless archive of Western life (including photos made by Ansel Adams) after Time Inc. told staffers to toss everything into a dumpster
- an investigation into the U.S. government's attempt to conceal the circumstances of pro football star and soldier Pat Tillman's death during the war in Afghanistan
- writing a tribute about environmental hero Jane Goodall just hours after she died
- how the Grateful Dead's ecstatic songs celebrate the wonders of nature.
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