Adventure, romance, mystery, fantasy—these are just some of the literary genres that fill bookshelves. But did you know that literature and journalism are intertwined? This mix gives rise to reportage books: literary works that tell a true story.
Reportage books present stories told with detailed and extensive writing. This is not characteristic of conventional media, where news must be conveyed in a... lead objective.
With non-fiction books, journalists gain freedom in their writing, being able to use literary techniques, resulting in a text closer to literature than conventional journalism. Furthermore, it is common for journalists to place themselves as characters or narrators in literary works.
Now that you know what reportage books are, grab your notepad and pen to jot down these reading tips to add to your bedside table:
Route 66, Caco Barcellos
You've certainly read or seen a report by Caco Barcellos, the journalist responsible for the show "Profissão Repórter" (Reporter's Profession). "Rota 66" (Route 66) is a critically acclaimed and popular work, published in 1992, that reveals the origins of the creation of an extermination system, the "official death squad" set up in São Paulo.
Hiroshima, John Hersey
A classic of investigative journalism, the book addresses the history of the atomic bomb that killed 100 people in Hiroshima in 1945. Written a year after the explosion, it includes accounts from six survivors. Furthermore, it served to alert the world to the catastrophes that can be caused by nuclear weapons.
The Eye of the Street, Eliane Brum
Eliane is one of the biggest names in this literary genre in Brazil, and in this work she reveals the story behind the 10 reports within the book. The journalist narrates the behind-the-scenes events, sharing dilemmas, discoveries, and the pain of an investigation.
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
This book is considered the landmark birth of literary journalism, published in 1967. The work tells the story of how the author became involved with a man imprisoned for murdering a family in the state of Kansas. Capote narrates the story of the crime from every possible angle.
Brazilian Holocaust, Daniela Arbex
The 2013 work denounces one of the greatest genocides in Brazil, at the Barbacena Psychiatric Hospital Center in Minas Gerais, where more than 60 patients died. The author presents accounts from former employees and survivors of the center, which daily received patients diagnosed with mental illness, homosexuals, prostitutes, among others – people considered outside social norms.
Are you ready to start venturing into this literary/journalistic genre? Tell us in the comments which of these books you can't wait to start reading.
