The Top 100 Journalism in the 20th Century

Wikis > The Top 100 Journalism in the 20th Century

1. John Hersey, “Hiroshima”, New Yorker

2. Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring”, Book

3. Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Investigation of the Watergate break in, Washington Post

4. Edward R. Murrow, Battle of Britain, CBS radio

5. Ida Tarbell, “The History of the Standard Oil Company”, McClure’s magazine

6. Lincoln Steffens, “The Shame of the Cities”, McClure’s

7. John Reed, “Ten Days That Shook the World”, Book

8. H. L. Mencken, Scopes “monkey” trial, Baltimore Sun

9. Ernie Pyle, Reports from Europe and the Pacific during World War II, Scripps-Howard newspapers

10. Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, Investigation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, CBS (pg. C1)

More of American Journalism’s Top 100

11. Edward R. Murrow, David Lowe and Fred Friendly. CBS Reports television documentary “Harvest of Shame.” 1960

12. Seymour Hersh. Investigation of massacre committed by American soldiers at My Lai in Vietnam. For Dispatch News Service. 1969

13. The New York Times. Publication of the Pentagon Papers. 1971

14. James Agee and Walker Evans. “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.” Book. 1941

15. W. E. B. DuBois. “The Souls of Black Folk.” Collected articles. 1903

16. I. F. Stone. I.F. Stone’s Weekly. 1953-67

17. Henry Hampton. “Eyes on the Prize.” Documentary. 1987

18. Tom Wolfe. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” Book. 1968

19. Norman Mailer. “The Armies of the Night.” Book. 1968

20. Hannah Arendt. “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.” Collected articles. 1963

21. William Shirer. “Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1939-1941.” Collected articles. 1941

22. Truman Capote. “In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences.” Book. 1965

23. Joan Didion. “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” Collected articles. 1968

24. Tom Wolfe. “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.” Collected articles. 1965

25. Michael Herr. “Dispatches.” Book. 1977

26. Theodore White. “The Making of the President: 1960.” Book. 1961

27. Robert Capa. Ten photographs from D-Day. 1944

28. J. Anthony Lukas. “Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families.” Book. 1985

29. Richard Harding Davis. Coverage of German march into Belgium. For the Wheeler Syndicate and magazines. 1914

30. Dorothy Thompson. Reports on the rise of Hitler in Cosmopolitan and Saturday Evening Post. 1931-34

31. John Steinbeck. Reports on Okie migrant camp life for The San Francisco News. 1936

32. A. J. Liebling. “The Road Back to Paris.” Collected articles. 1944

33. Ernest Hemingway. Reports on the Spanish Civil War in The New Republic. 1937-38

34. Martha Gellhorn. “The Face of War.” Collected articles. 1959

35. James Baldwin. “The Fire Next Time.” Book. 1963

36. Joseph Mitchell. “Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories.” Collection of much older articles. 1992

37. Betty Friedan. “The Feminine Mystique.” Book. 1963

38. Ralph Nader. “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile.” Book. 1965

39. Herblock (Herbert Block). Cartoons on “McCarthyism.” In The Washington Post. 1950

40. James Baldwin. “Letter from the South: Nobody Knows My Name.” In The Partisan Review. 1959

41. Huynh Cong Ut. Photograph of a burning girl running from a napalm attack. For The Associated Press. 1972

42. Pauline Kael. “Trash, Art, and the Movies.” In Harper’s. 1969

43. Gay Talese. “Fame and Obscurity: Portraits by Gay Talese.” Collected articles. 1970

44. Randy Shilts. Reports on AIDS for The San Francisco Chronicle. 1981-85

45. Janet Flanner (Genet). “Paris Journals” chronicling Paris’s emergence from the Occupation. In The New Yorker. 1944-45

46. Neil Sheehan. “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.” Book. 1988

47. A. J. Liebling. “The Wayward Pressman.” Collected articles. 1947

48. Tom Wolfe. “The Right Stuff.” Book. 1979

49. Murray Kempton. “America Comes of Middle Age: Columns 1950-1962.” Collected articles. 1963

50. Murray Kempton. “Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties.” Book. 1955

51. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele. “America: What Went Wrong?” Series in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1991

52. Taylor Branch. “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63.” Book. 1988

53. Harrison Salisbury. Reporting from the Soviet Union for The New York Times. 1949-54

54. John McPhee. “The John McPhee Reader.” Collected articles. 1976

55. ABC. Live television broadcast of Army-McCarthy hearings. 1954

56. Frederick Wiseman. “Titicut Follies.” Documentary. 1967

57. David Remnick. “Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire.” Book. 1993

58. Richard Ben Cramer. “What It Takes: The Way to the White House.” Book. 1992

59. Jonathan Schell. “The Fate of the Earth.” Book. 1982

60. Russell Baker. “Francs and Beans.” In The New York Times. 1975

61. Homer Bigart. Account of being over Japan in a bomber when World War II came to an end. In The New York Herald-Tribune. 1945

62. Ben Hecht. “1,001 Afternoons in Chicago.” Collected articles. 1922

63. Walter Cronkite. CBS television documentary on Vietnam. 1968

64. Walter Lippmann. Early essays for The New Republic. 1914

65. Margaret Bourke-White. Photographs following the defeat of Germany. For Life magazine. 1945

66. Lillian Ross. “Reporting.” Collected articles. 1964

67. Nicholas Lemann. “The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America.” Book. 1991

68. Joe Rosenthal. Photograph of Marines raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. For The Associated Press. 1945

69. Hodding Carter Jr. “Go for Broke.” Editorial in Carter’s Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Miss.). 1945

70. The New Yorker. “The New Yorker Book of War Pieces.” Collected articles. 1947

71. Meyer Berger. Report on the murderer Howard Unruh. In The New York Times. 1949

72. Norman Mailer. “The Executioner’s Song.” Book. 1979

73. Robert Capa. Spanish Civil War photos for Life. 1936

74. Susan Sontag. Notes on ‘Camp. In The Partisan Review. 1964

75. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. “All the President’s Men.” Book. 1974

76. John Hersey. “Here To Stay.” Collected articles. 1963

77. A. J. Liebling. “The Earl of Louisiana.” Book. 1961

78. Mike Davis. “City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles.” Book. 1990

79. Melissa Fay Greene. “Praying for Sheetrock.” Book. 1991

80. J. Anthony Lukas. “The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick.” In The New York Times. 1967

81. Herbert Bayard Swope. “Klan Exposed.” In The New York World. 1921

82. William Allen White. “To an Anxious Friend.” In The Emporia (Kan.) Gazette. 1922

83. Edward R. Murrow. Report of the liberation of Buchenwald for CBS radio. 1945

84. Joseph Mitchell. “McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon.” Collected articles. 1943

85. Lillian Ross. “Picture.” Book. 1952

86. Earl Brown. Series of articles on race for Harper’s and Life magazines. 1942-44

87. Greil Marcus. “Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.” Book. 1975

88. Morley Safer. Report for CBS television on atrocities committed by American soldiers on the hamlet of Cam Ne in Vietnam. 1965

89. Ted Poston. Coverage of the “Little Scottsboro” trial. In The New York Post. 1949

90. Leon Dash. “Rosa Lee’s Story.” Series in The Washington Post. 1994

91. Jane Kramer. “Europeans.” Collected articles. 1988

92. Eddie Adams and Vo Suu. Associated Press photograph and NBC television footage of a Saigon execution. 1968

93. Grantland Rice. “Notre Dame’s ‘Four Horsemen’.” In The New York Herald-Tribune. 1924

94. Jane Kramer. “The Politics of Memory: Looking for Germany in the New Germany.” Collected articles. 1996

95. Frank McCourt. “Angela’s Ashes.” Book. 1996

96. Vincent Sheean. “Personal History.” Book. 1935

97. W. E. B. DuBois. Columns on race during his tenure as editor of The Crisis. 1910-34

98. Damon Runyon. Crime reporting in The New York American. 1926

99. Joe McGinniss. “The Selling of the President 1968.” Book. 1969

100. Hunter S. Thompson. “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.” Book. 1973