David Grann
I really just choose stories that are compelling, have interesting trends and characters, and hopefully say something larger about society.
Journalists are often portrayed as cynical. I often think it's the opposite.
I'm not a post-modernist. Especially when I do crime stories.
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.
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.
There's a tendency when we write history to do it with the power of hindsight and then assume almost god-like knowledge that nobody living through history has.
Each person, as they live through history, can't see it all.
I have lots of gaps in my education, and so I'm often picking up classic books that most people read years ago.
I don't cry too often reading books, but I did reading Francisco Goldman's autobiographical novel, 'Say Her Name.'
Because I read so much nonfiction for work, I enjoy fiction most, especially detective novels and mysteries that keep me awake at night.
One of my favorite authors to read is Eric Ambler, who helped pioneer the form of realistic suspense novels.
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 haven't read a word of Proust. And I listen obsessively to sports radio.
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.
I am not, by nature, an explorer or an adventurer.
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 don't want to just traffic in sensationalism or in mere blood.
I don't hunt, I don't camp, and I get lost on my subway to work here in Times Square!
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.
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 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 had always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan.
I don't normally do pure historical work.
I'm a very slow reader.
Books were a huge part of my childhood growing up. We would go on vacation, and my mom was always carting manuscripts around.
I look for stories everywhere.
I often say that the best way to find a story is a one-inch brief in a local newspaper.
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.
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.
Crime stories are often sensationalized. They can provoke lower standards.
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.
We are a country of laws. When you take that away, the consequences are enormous.
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.
I covered Congress, and everyone always wanted me to be a political reporter.
There are certain stories that remind you of the moral purpose that originally drew you to become a reporter.
One of the dangers today is that when we don't like what the facts tell us, we just attack the facts, and we undermine the credibility of institutions. That is true not just for reporting; it's true of when people are attacking the congressional budget office, or when they're attacking certain science - that's where we can get into a dangerous realm.Collection: People
I do think that in many cases, where crimes have been covered up and perpetrators can escape justice, history can provide some accounting. It can identify the killers, ensure that their names are remembered, and it can give voice to and record the victims, and make sure, even more importantly, that their voices and their stories are remembered and heard. And I don't think there's justice, but I do think history can play an important role in that accounting.Collection: Thinking
Early in my career I was much more confident in the almost omniscient powers of a reporter, because you could find anything out and then write the definitive piece about it. And as I got older, I got much more humble about trying to learn everything, with what eludes you, especially with history.Collection: Writing
I'm a big believer in the truth; I'm a kind of a fundamentalist. My goal is at least to the best of my ability to try to ferret it out. Especially when I believe there is a crime, I'm not a post-modernist: if somebody shot someone or poisoned them, they are responsible for somebody's death.Collection: Believe