Tom Rachmans roman, De imperfekta, finns på svenska. Hahn har jobbat på AP större delen av livet. Dessutom har han listat vad han tycker är de bästa romanerna om journalistik. Har lagt till Guillous Ordets makt och vanmakt. En lysande samtidshistoria.
1. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Published in 1938, this satirical masterpiece recounts the misfortunes of a timid young writer of articles about the English countryside who, by mistake, is dispatched to cover civil war in Africa. Disaster follows, as do the most memorable scenes in the genre, enough to console generations of bumbling foreign correspondents.
2. The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
An essay on the tangled relationship between reporter and subject, an affair that often begins with seduction and ends with betrayal. I read this in journalism school and was transfixed; only later, on the job, did I realise how insightful it was.
3. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Fowler is a middle-aged British correspondent in the professional habit of watching others' suffering from a distance. When he encounters an idealistic young American with plans to fix Vietnam, Fowler must decide whether to act. As relevant today as when published in 1955.
4. All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
The account of two young Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Probably the most exalted moment in modern journalism, and an inspiration to many a reporter who followed.
5. Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
This amusing newspaper novel from 1967 is set in the era when "Fleet Street" was a real place. Frayn, who worked at the Manchester Guardian and the Observer, recounts the less-than-grand foibles of a nameless newspaper's nature and crosswords department.
6. A Treasury of Great Reporting edited by Louis L Snyder and Richard B Morris
Subtitled "Literature under Pressure," this anthology collects work from nearly 400 years, showing how much the job has changed yet how consistent are its finest principles, particularly the aim of casting light on hidden misdeeds and untold human stories.
7. Floater by Calvin Trillin
A witty tale by this longtime New Yorker writer about a magazine journalist who toils as a "floater," meaning he must take assignments in different departments, depending on who is out or otherwise indisposed. Terrific characters. Sadly, Floater is out of print.
8. Personal History by Katherine Graham
The moving memoir of a hero of American newspapering who was thrust into power in 1963 when her manic-depressive husband, the publisher of The Washington Post, committed suicide. In a male-dominated business, she was viewed with scepticism yet took her husband's job and led the paper to glory.
9. The Best of Granta Reportage
At the intersection of hard news and literature, reportage is the work that most hacks dream of and few are lucky enough to do. This anthology starts with a classic, "The Soccer War" by Ryszard Kapuściński, and includes fine work by Ian Jack, Martha Gellhorn, John le Carré and others.
10. Psmith Journalist by PG Wodehouse
A silly but amusing yarn about an English dandy who takes charge of a weekly publication in New York and produces campaigning pieces about the slums. Hardly a realistic primer on life in the news business, this novel does offer a bit of light relief – welcome in these dark times for the traditional press.
11. Ordets makt och vanmakt av Jan Guillou
I boken berättar Guillou om fiaskon och succéer och om journalistiska förebilder, t ex Edgar Antonsson och Arne Lemberg. Vägen gick via Folket i Bild/Kulturfront, där Jan Myrdal spelade en stor och ödesdiger roll och leder fram till bokserierna om Hamilton och Arn Magnusson som gjorde Guillou till den mest sålda romanförfattaren i Sverige någonsin.
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