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Quote by William Finnegan

“I'm trying to find out what's actually true, which is nearly always something, if not a world of things, that you can't read in books.”

Quote by William Finnegan

Author

William Finnegan

William Finnegan, born in 1952, is an accomplished American writer known for his in-depth investigative reporting and profound insights into social phenomena. His works are characterized by their focus on political, social, and moral issues, showcasing exceptional narrative skills and critical thinking. more

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“The differences between the received wisdom, the standard version of events, and the facts on the ground may be subtle or they may be stark, even profound.”

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“I need to conduct myself differently in different communities. In my experience, the journalistic conventions - you know, I'm the reporter, you're the subject, the interviewee - actually tend to hold steady much more consistently in rural Africa than they do in the American inner city.”

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“Speaking generally, I think it's useful to acknowledge explicitly the power imbalance between a journalist and the protagonists in a story about poor people, even to make that imbalance part of the story - and to redress it, narratively, where you can.”

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“It's completely different, for instance, to report on poor farmers in Africa than it is to report on, say, poor African-Americans. The familiarity of my readers with the terrain, and their preconceptions, are quite different in those two cases, and their perspective, as I imagine it, has to be taken into account at every turn.”

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“You're after something - not a story, but a certain, exquisitely intense encounter with beauty - and the only way to find it is to tiptoe past the dragon's cave.”

Way Stories Past Certain Intense Encounters Dragons Caves Tiptoes

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“I've felt afraid as a reporter many times. Sometimes it's sharp, as in a bad moment, or a bad situation; other times it's general, as in a country known for kidnapping, where you can never quite relax.”

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Author:William Finnegan

“Even wars, big conflicts that have drawn a lot of news coverage, sometimes seem to me to have a center that hasn't been described, that might yet be glimpsed if approached from some odd angle.”

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“Memoir is a weird genre for a reporter. You end up investigating your own memories, reporting out your past.”

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“The enslavement, humiliation, torture, and ultimate destruction of thousands upon thousands of human beings for a project for which there was ultimately no purpose is a horror that's very hard to imagine, far less understand.”

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“I think sometimes writers must attempt to communicate the incommunicable, because, whether they wish it or not, they're the ones to whom it falls.”

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