Looking for a Story

An annotated guide to the work of the Pulitzer Prizewinning writer, teacher, and pioneer of creative nonfiction John McPhee has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965 and has written more than thirty acclaimed books that began on the magazines pages. But few readers know or fully appreciate the true breadth of his writing. Looking for a Story is a complete readers guide to McPhees vast published work, documenting much rarely seen or connected with McPhee, including remarkable early writing for Time magazine published without his name. In chronicling McPhees career where he broke ground applying devices long associated with fiction to the literature of fact, Noel Rubinton gives insights into McPhees techniques, choice of subjects, and research methods, shedding light on how McPhee turns complicated subjects like geology into compelling stories. Beyond detailing more than seventy years of McPhees writing, Rubinton recounts McPhees half century as a Princeton University writing professor, a little known part of his legacy. McPhee inspired generations of students who wrote hundreds of books of their own, also catalogued here. With an incisive foreword by New Yorker staff writer and former McPhee student Peter Hessler, Looking for a Story also includes extensive annotated listings of articles about McPhee, reviews of his books, and interviews, readings, and speeches. Whether you are already an admirer of McPhee or new to his writings, this book provides an invaluable road map to his rich body of work.