The Bookworm: Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print

Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print edited by David Wallis. 430 pages. Nation Books 2004.

…most of the stories collected here were killed because they somehow disturbed the commissioning editor or the magazine’s lawyer or the publisher or perhaps the publisher’s pals. This book strips a layer of gloss from the pages of magazines and cracks open the door of the newspaper editor’s inner sanctum, granting readers a glimpse at the sometimes sordid process that determines what you read and what you can’t.

Holy shit. When was the last time I finished a book?

My last real Bookworm post for For Whom the Bell Tolls was May 4, so I probably finished the book that day or the day before. Needless to say, I haven’t done much reading between then and now — just large and small chunks in Killed every now and then. Relatively speaking, that’s probably more reading than 85 percent of Americans do in the same timeframe. But it’s not as much as I would like to have done.

My excuse? I stopped riding the bus to and from work. Ever since returning from Hawaii, I haven’t been able to wake up in time to catch the 178 to UCI. The night I flew back to LAX, I not only needed to jump two hours to readjust to Pacific Time, but also needed to “spring forward” another hour for Daylight Savings Time. Reorienting for Pacific was no problem, but DST threw a wrench in my daily pattern gears. I couldn’t make the adjustment. Each day that week I slept in an hour later than usual and opted to drive to work. I’ve been doing the same thing ever since.

I could take the next bus (or just get my ass up), but I wouldn’t get to campus until 9:30. Nobody’s looking over my shoulder or making sure I’m at work by a certain time, but my Midwestern work ethic dictates I arrive at work between 8:30 and 9. By driving to work, I can sleep an hour more and get to work at the same time as if I hopped the 178 East at 7:45. However, it’s detrimental to the environment, my wallet, and my reading queue. Not riding the bus takes away two good hours of reading time each workday.

Obviously, the story behind (not) reading Killed is more interesting than the book itself. Though Killed is a pretty good book.

I bought Killed at The Haunted Bookshop on New Years Eve Day. I saw it at the store during a previous visit, and decided to balls-up and buy it. As a former journalist, Killed piqued my interest. I wasn’t the best or most motivated reporter, but I still have an itch and appreciation for the type of investigative journalism I was, and still am, too chicken to write myself. Killed scratched that itch with its offering of 24 “killed” pieces.

In his introduction, Killed’s editor David Wallis writes, “Superb journalism is often the progeny of a dedicated writer and a supportive editor. Now meet the bastard children of such liaisons gone wrong.” Each of Killed’s pieces were axed by the editors or publishers who commissioned the articles (some even in the very final stages before publishing), and all are introduced by the authors with a short explanation of the killing. Most writers know why their stories were killed. Jon Entine’s “The Stranger-than-Truth Story of The Body Shop” was axed by Vanity Fair due to fear of litigation under UK libel laws. (“…in British courts the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove beyond a doubt the truth of any allegations.” That is the exact opposite of US libel laws, which require the accused to prove allegations by reporters are false.) Other reporters are left pondering, and only hear rumors.

Killed features hard, in the trenches journalism, but also a movie review, a two book reviews, two pieces of playful fiction, and an awesome interview with John Mellencamp (or whatever his name is now) about his voracious smoking habit. (At one time, he apparently smoked 80 cigarettes a day.) The best piece, in my opinion, was by far “A Ramble Through Lebanon,” a humor travelogue written by P.J. O’Rourke during the Lebanese civil war in 1984. The beginning is just priceless:

“Bassboat.” “Bizport.” “Passboot.” “Pisspot.” It’s the one English word every Lebanese understands and no Lebanese can say. The first, deepest and most enduring impression from a visit to Lebanon is an endless series of faces, with gun barrels, poking through the car window and mispronouncing your travel documents.

The articles featured in Killed deserved much better proof reading. It was sloppy as hell, especially in the pieces at the end. There were numerous misplaced quotation marks and missing words, and Killed owns the most horrible typesetting error I have ever seen in a book: in one piece, a new paragraph was started midsentence. How the hell does that happen?

Good luck finding another copy of Killed. It seems to be one of those rare, used bookstore gems you need to pounce on when you can. If you see it around, I recommend snatching it up.

Cool new words I learned: All definitions courtesy of my Mac Book dictionary. Charlatan: “a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.” Inimical: “tending to obstruct or harm.” Fatuity: a derivative of “fatuous.” Tiramisu: “an Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee and brandy or liqueur with powdered chocolate and mascarpone cheese.” Trattoria: “an Italian restaurant serving simple food.” Verisimilitude: “the appearance of being true or real.” Crenulate: “(esp. of a leaf, shell, or shoreline) having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge.” Littoral: “of, relating to, or situated on the shore of the sea or a lake.” Ululate: “howl or wail as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief.” Faux-naïf: “(of a work of art or a person) artificially or affectedly simple or naive.” Feuilleton: “a part of a newspaper or magazine devoted to fiction, criticism, or light literature.” Munificence: “(of a gift or sum of money) larger or more generous than is usual or necessary.” Ancillary: “providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, industry, or system.” Falstaffian: “of or resembling Shakespeare's character Sir John Falstaff in being fat, jolly, and debauched.” Bumptious: “self-assertive or proud to an irritating degree.” Nonpareil: “having no match or equal; unrivaled.” Demimonde: “a group of people considered to be on the fringes of respectable society.” Etiolated: “having lost vigor or substance; feeble.” Ingénue: “an innocent or unsophisticated young woman.” Décolletage: “a low neckline on a woman's dress or top.” Chthonic: “concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld.” Sangfroid: “composure or coolness, sometimes excessive, as shown in danger or under trying circumstances.” Anodyne: “not likely to provoke dissent or offense; uncontentious or inoffensive, often deliberately so.” Götterdämmerung: “(in Germanic mythology) the downfall of the gods.” Mawkish: “sentimental in a feeble or sickly way.”