Other Books by Doug Underwood
Literary Journalism in British and American Prose: An Historical Overview
McFarland, 2019
ISBN: 9781476676210
We debate today about fake news and real news, but it is an old discussion in British and American literary history. Seldom do we think of news as having anything to do with art, or that writers might have viewed blended forms of journalism and fiction as more "truthful" than the so-called "factual" writing practices of their day. But from Jonathan Swift's masquerading role as the acerbic, anonymous periodical editor-turned-novelist, to reporter Mark Twain's hoax stories that upset the newspaper competition, to Mary Ann Evans' penetrating literary reviews written under her pseudonym George Eliot, famous journalist-literary figures have mixed fact, imagination, and journalistic commentary to produce memorable works in English prose.
"Journalism" is such an elastic term and has been applied in such a multiplicity of ways, that it can daunting to try to trace its influence within the traditions of British and American prose, and this is doubly so when evaluating journalism within the debates about what forms of writing should be deemed "literature." In this study, British and American literary journalism is examined within the context of their independent traditions, their complementary influences, and their sometimes rival critical viewpoints. In doing so, the practice and study of journalism's contributions to English prose history, their place within the canonical evaluations of scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, and their situation within the various critical movements that have altered the cultural status of journalism and nonfictional writing through the years will be described. The purpose is to provide an historical overview of narrative and discursive journalism's heritage dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries when commercial periodicals and industrialized press organizations emerged as powerful forces within British and American letters.
British literary journalism scholar Richard Keeble calls the book "brilliant in dissecting the continuities between U.S. and U.K. literature and journalism"; "phenomenal" in the depth and originality of its research; and "a work of mammoth scholarship that should remain the seminal text in the field for many years." (Literary Journalism Studies, 2021)
Chronicling Trauma: Journalists and Writers on Violence and Loss
University of Illinois Press, 2011
ISBN: 9781476676210
To attract readers, journalists have long trafficked in the causes of trauma – crime, violence, warfare – as well as psychological profiling of deviance and aberrational personalities. Novelists, in turn, have explored these same subjects in developing their characters and by borrowing from their characters' life stories to shape the themes and psychological terrain of their fiction. Doug Underwood offers a conceptual and historical framework for comprehending the impact of crime and violence in the careers and writings of important journalist-literary figures in the United States and British Isles from the early 1700s to today... (Called) the most extensive scholarly examination of the role that trauma has played in the shaping of our journalistic and literary heritage, Chronicling Trauma: Journalists and Writers on Violence and Loss discusses more than a hundred writers whose works have won them fame, even at the price of their health, their families, and their lives.
A fascinating and detailed account of the way in which traumatic events have shaped the careers of 150 British and US journalist-literary figures over the past 300 years. .. This book offers an incredibly rich and historically-grounded account of the intersection of trauma, journalism, and literature.
–Folker Hanusch for Social Alternatives (2012)
Journalism and the Novel: Truth and Fiction, 1700–2000
Cambridge University Press, 2008
ISBN: 9780521187541
Journalistic fiction is a rich field of study that has played an important role in the creation of the English and American literary canon. ... Doug Underwood focuses on the many notable journalists-turned-novelists found at the margin of fact and fiction since the early eighteenth century, when the novel and the commercial periodical began to emerge as powerful cultural forces. Writers from both sides of the Atlantic are discussed, from Daniel Defoe to Charles Dickens, and from Mark Twain to Joan Didion. Underwood shows how many literary reputations are built on journalistic foundations of research and reporting, and how this impacts on questions of realism and authenticity throughout the work of many canonical authors.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then perhaps envy is the second highest. As one who celebrates the intersection of journalism and literature, I am both grateful to and envious of Doug Underwood... who has produced an informative, thorough, and methodical survey that masterfully blends journalism and literary history ... (In the book), he conducted meticulous research, compiled it with the reader in mind, and relayed his ideas with humor and insight, creating a classic among the critical studies of literary journalism.
–Jan Whitt, University of Colorado, for Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (2009)
From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press
(The History of Media and Communication)
University of Illinois Press, 2002
ISBN: 9780252027062
Underwood's From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press, analyzes the history of media and traces religious influences in journalism from biblical times to modern communications systems. The book won a distinguished book award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR).
Quentin Schultze called it "one of the finest books written on the history of journalism in the United States" in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (2003), and added, "... With this book, Underwood has shown once again that he is an accomplished researcher and writer whose scholarly work reads like fine journalism."
When MBAs Rule the Newsroom: How the Marketers and Managers Are Reshaping Today's Media
Columbia University Press, 1993
ISBN: 9780231080484
An in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the modern newsroom, this book explores how large corporations dominate today's media and uncovers how investigative and informative reports are being replaced by demands for high-profit, 'reader-friendly' journalism.
Underwood's debut book, When MBAs Rule the Newsroom: How the Marketers and Managers Are Reshaping Today's Media (Columbia University Press, 1993), was selected by a University of Washington panel as one of the top 100 books published by UW authors. Kirkus Reviews (1993) called the book "a first rate critique of the infotainment/customer trap into which commercialism has lured many of the metropolitan dailies owned by conglomerates rather than by proprietors who view their equity as a trust."
(Journalism History, 2014)
The state of the industry and my own Boston Globe experience (tell me) that your observations… have proven not just pertinent but frighteningly clairvoyant. That to me is both a tribute to you and a disheartening commentary on our self-destructive business.
–Bob Duffy, Boston Globe
The Undeclared War between Journalism and Fiction: Journalists as Genre Benders in Literary History
Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
ISBN: 9781137353474
In this volume, Doug Underwood asks whether much of what is now called literary journalism is, in fact, 'literary,' and whether it should rank with the great novels by such journalist-literary figures as Twain, Cather, and Hemingway, who believed that fiction was the better place for a realistic writer to express the important truths of life.
About The Undeclared War between Journalism and Fiction: Journalists as Genre Benders in Literary History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Erika J. Pribanic-Smith wrote that Underwood "takes a fascinating look at the blurred lines between fact and fiction in journalism. ... He provides a unique interpretation, contending that fictional story-telling can be a more effective way to reveal universal truths and garner the public's attention than the objective practices of cited facts common to journalism writing ... Overall, Underwood demonstrates a fine master of narrative writing, making the book an enjoyable read." (Journalism History, 2014)