One of the books we will read in RTV 4931 (Ethics and Problems) is Helene Cooper's The House at Sugar Beach about growing up in Liberia and how that influenced her to become a reporter for the New York Times. You can hear her talk about the book at http://books.simonandschuster.com/House-At-Sugar-Beach/Helene-Cooper/9780743266246
It's a great read, but you may want to consider listening to the audio books version which is narrated by Cooper. She does a wonderful job of capturing the flavor of the story in her delivery. Either way, I'm interested in reading your comments about the book. (Feel free to post comments here.)
Jan 30, 2009
Jan 11, 2009
Travel Reporting Book Assignment Announced
Several of you are already starting the reading for our travel reporting class. That's a great idea since it will help prepare you for the other assignments while we are in France. Here's a preview of the reading requirement. (The related books are detailed in the Dec. 26 posting.) This assignment will count 20 percent of your final course grade.
Write a 750-word book review including the three books assigned for the class. The books are A Sense of Place, Travelers’ Tales: France and The Best American Travel Writing 2008.
The assignment is due at the start of class on May 11. Your review should be typed and you should turn in a hard copy.
You can include additional information, but in your review please address the following questions.
Questions for A Sense of Place by Michael Shapiro
Select two of the travel writers featured in A Sense of Place whose work interests you and contrast their approaches to selecting topics, researching them and their self-described writing style. Evaluate what you could learn about travel reporting from the authors and their work. Use their ideas about travel writing to critique work you read in the following books.
Questions for Travelers’ Tales: France by James O’Reilly
Select at least two of the stories in Travelers’ Tales and critique them based on the techniques and philosophy of the writers you selected from A Sense of Place. Analyze how successfully – or unsuccessfully – the authors carry out their assignments.
Questions for The Best American Travel Writing 2008
Select at least two of the stories in The Best American Travel Writing and critique them based on the techniques and philosophy of the writers you selected in A Sense of Place. Also provide your analysis of whether the stories are successful or not based on these criteria.
Write a 750-word book review including the three books assigned for the class. The books are A Sense of Place, Travelers’ Tales: France and The Best American Travel Writing 2008.
The assignment is due at the start of class on May 11. Your review should be typed and you should turn in a hard copy.
You can include additional information, but in your review please address the following questions.
Questions for A Sense of Place by Michael Shapiro
Select two of the travel writers featured in A Sense of Place whose work interests you and contrast their approaches to selecting topics, researching them and their self-described writing style. Evaluate what you could learn about travel reporting from the authors and their work. Use their ideas about travel writing to critique work you read in the following books.
Questions for Travelers’ Tales: France by James O’Reilly
Select at least two of the stories in Travelers’ Tales and critique them based on the techniques and philosophy of the writers you selected from A Sense of Place. Analyze how successfully – or unsuccessfully – the authors carry out their assignments.
Questions for The Best American Travel Writing 2008
Select at least two of the stories in The Best American Travel Writing and critique them based on the techniques and philosophy of the writers you selected in A Sense of Place. Also provide your analysis of whether the stories are successful or not based on these criteria.
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