There are certain stories that remind you of the moral purpose that originally drew you to become a reporter.
— David Grann
We are a country of laws. When you take that away, the consequences are enormous.
You have to go where the truth takes you, and that doesn't always take you in exactly the same place where people you speak to might want,or suspects may want. That's your ultimate obligation.
I look for stories everywhere.
I don't normally do pure historical work.
The Osage have this lovely phrase: 'Travelers in the Mist.' It was the term for part of an Osage clan that would take the lead whenever the tribe was venturing into unfamiliar realms. And, in a way, we are all travelers in the mist. The challenge is that, as writers, we sometimes want to ignore this murkiness, or we want to write around it.
I don't hunt, I don't camp, and I get lost on my subway to work here in Times Square!
I am not, by nature, an explorer or an adventurer.
It took me a long time to be able to write for the 'New Yorker,' and for me, that has been the best job. I live a very conventional life, but reporting for the magazine has allowed me to do things I would never otherwise do, such as investigating a criminal conspiracy in Guatemala or trekking through the Amazon looking for a lost city.
I don't cry too often reading books, but I did reading Francisco Goldman's autobiographical novel, 'Say Her Name.'
Each person, as they live through history, can't see it all.
A lot of the stories I write about have an element of mystery. They're crime stories or conspiracy stories or quests. They do have built into them revelations and twists. But the revelations, to me, come from seeing history as it's unfolding, or life as it's unfolding.
I really just choose stories that are compelling, have interesting trends and characters, and hopefully say something larger about society.
I wish a book could reach as many people as film, but we have to be realistic about it.
In Brazil, the history of the interaction between blancos and indios - whites and Indians - often reads like an extended epitaph. Tribes were wiped out by disease and massacres; languages and songs were obliterated.
I was a schoolteacher; I taught seventh and eighth grade, and I tried to write fiction on the side.
A lot of the stuff I tweet is out of childlike curiosity.
I covered Congress, and everyone always wanted me to be a political reporter.
I often feel that with a crime story, the moral standards have to be higher. You're deal with real victims and with real consequences.
When criminals go free, the hope is that history will come in and provide some level of justice. It won't correct the sins, but it will at least record them. The sinners would be known, and the victims' stories would be known.
Books were a huge part of my childhood growing up. We would go on vacation, and my mom was always carting manuscripts around.
I had always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan.
I've done a lot of stories over the years, and sometimes there are larks, and they're fun, and you kind of move on.
I don't want to just traffic in sensationalism or in mere blood.
I guess if I had to pick one interest that is unique, it would be giant squids - I'm disturbingly fascinated by them and even wrote a story about the hunt for them.
One of my favorite authors to read is Eric Ambler, who helped pioneer the form of realistic suspense novels.
I have lots of gaps in my education, and so I'm often picking up classic books that most people read years ago.
The public, the whites - not just in Oklahoma, but across the United States - were transfixed by the Osage wealth which belied images of Native Americans that could be traced back to the first brutal contact with whites.
I'm not a post-modernist. Especially when I do crime stories.
One of the nice things about 'The New Yorker' is they let you write stories that sometimes end up almost half a book.
I spend my life mostly disproving conspiracies.
Most of Gingrich's moderate positions are rooted in a realpolitik that transcends ideology.
It was a very circuitous path. It was not very linear - I floundered about for many years.
If someone told me I had to stop writing stories, that would be the end of me.
My mother doesn't need much sleep. At any hour of the night, you'd wake up, and she'd be reading. She'd read five, six books a week. When we went on sailing trips, she'd bring a suitcaseful for the week. Even then, her office would have to send more.
Crime stories are often sensationalized. They can provoke lower standards.
I often say that the best way to find a story is a one-inch brief in a local newspaper.
I'm a very slow reader.
I never want to make people upset, but sometimes we may. When I interview people, I try to make it clear that our obligation is to what we uncover and to telling that story and to presenting it fairly and making sure everyone has a say.
I've always been a big believer that you can use the elements of storytelling to bring the reader along and to hopefully illuminate a lot of the important things. It's a challenge, but it's something I kind of believe in.
You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual, element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?
I haven't read a word of Proust. And I listen obsessively to sports radio.
Because I read so much nonfiction for work, I enjoy fiction most, especially detective novels and mysteries that keep me awake at night.
My night stand is more like a geological structure: a bunch of books piled on the floor with its own strata.
There are some incredibly gifted writers in the world. You can count them on a hand. They're blessed, and they've worked at their craft, but there's very few.
Journalists are often portrayed as cynical. I often think it's the opposite.
The only thing as murky as a conspiracy is what's happening in Hollywood.
One of the things I believe strongly in is developing institutions - legal, press, bureaucracies, academies - that are rooted in the pursuit of impartial truth. That aren't simply just bent to partisan ends or are corrupted for the powerful or for other ulterior motives.
I tried a few grad school programs because I didn't know how to make it... Eventually, I was desperate for a job, and there was a new newspaper opening up in Washington, D.C., called 'The Hill.' Even though my interest in politics wasn't huge, they gave me a job as a copy editor.
To be honest, I used to always procrastinate when I write. I mean, I love writing, but I hate it.
