The top 10 of book journalism Recommendations for books by journalists

By Fritz Hausjell and Wolfgang R. Langenbucher

A project by the University of Vienna’s Department of Communication, the idea of selecting and presenting the best German books by journalists was co-founded by Hannes Haas (1957-2014) and is compiled by Wolfgang R. Langenbucher and Fritz Hausjell. The first edition was published in 2002 in the quarterly journal Message, founded by Michael Haller. When that journal ceased publication, the book recommendations were documented in the magazine Der österreichische Journalist [The Austrian journalist] from 2015. This was interrupted in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, a new place of publicationwas found: Journalism Research.

Translation: Sophie Costella

Places 1 to 3

1. Uwe Wittstock (2024): Marseille 1940. Die große Flucht der Literatur. [Marseille 1940. The great flight of literature.] Munich: C.H.Beck, 351 pages, EUR 26.

Published in February 2024, already topping various non-fiction bestseller charts by March, on its seventh reprint after just three months: There can be no doubt that this is one of this year’s most successful non-fiction works. Yet the subject matter is nothing new. It was back in the 1970s that the first books were written about banished literature and other forms of culture, art and science that were exiled from Germany and Austria. Most of these works were focused on individual persons.

Now, a highly successful journalist has used a process that has already been employed various times in historical book journalism, focusing the readers’ attention on a specific period and place: the French port city of Marseille in 1940. Thousands of refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia fled there during this time, believing they would be safe from their National Socialist persecutors. But Nazi Germany also invaded France in May 1940, overrunning it in next to no time. Although the south of the country was not occupied, the Vichy regime that remained in place cooperated closely with the Nazi occupiers in the north, making the south also an extremely unsafe place for Nazi opponents and Jews who had fled there.

A young American journalist named Varian Fry arrived in summer 1940, worked with others to set up a network to help refugees, and organized the escape of more than 2,000 people to America by autumn 1942. In this book, Wittstock reconstructs the period May 10, 1940 to October 1941 using autobiographical memoirs, academic studies, files in archives and documentation centers, expert interviews, and his own travel to the locations covered.

The author writes in the present tense, giving readers the feeling of being there in the heart of the action. He consciously amalgamates the often-oppressive scenarios, the periods of fear and the hardships of everyday exile life with trivia and personal details. Without these moments of light relief, readers of this purely fact-based book would surely find unbearable the huge number of challenges in the lives of so many people, the travails described, the exhaustion and the suicides.

Wittstock does not tug at the heartstrings, but endeavors to tell very specific stories from this terrible period with a high level of detail and precision. A fascinating question for academics and journalists will be whether the enormous demand for this book will (once again) boost empathy for the people who come to us as refugees today. Varian Fry, a central character in refugee aid at the time, received next to no recognition for his work, neither in Germany nor in the USA. That brings us to the next fascinating question for academics and journalists: Is journalism today nuanced enough in reporting on those who help refugees to flee? Or does the media fail to distance itself sufficiently from the negative way most politicians frame »smugglers« as exclusively criminal?

2. Stephan Lamby (2023): Ernstfall. Regieren in Zeiten des Krieges. Ein Report aus dem Inneren der Macht. [Emergency. Governing in times of war. A report from the inner circles of power.] Munich: C.H. Beck, 400 pages, EUR 26.90.

The »topic of the week« in the weekend edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (June 1-2, 2024, p. 2) was a full-page article on Nord Stream 2 by a collective of five journalists. Based on a »bundle of files stretching to a thousand pages,« the piece used numerous details to demonstrate how the German federal government systematically deceived the media and the public about the real events and background until the very last minute before Putin’s war of aggression. The theme: »a mission to pour oil of troubled waters.«

This approach is typical of a type of journalism once considered »new«: Topical reporting in daily media followed by deep analysis in book form, comprehensive and with bestseller potential. American journalists Bob Woodward (* 1943) and Carl Bernstein (*1944), who uncovered the Watergate scandal, remain the best-known proponents of this approach to this day.

Stephan Lamby (*1959) is one of the best-known journalists in this field in the German-speaking world. Since the late 1990s, he has produced more than 25 television documentaries, most recently the hotly-debated series Ernstfall – Regieren am Limit.[1] This book of the same name accompanies the series. Written by a journalist like Lamby, it almost goes without saying that the book reads like a thriller. The events, and the amateurishness with which the three-party coalition faced them, provided him with source material it would be almost impossible to make up.

The book is at once a chronicle, a reportage, an analysis. It is based on omnipresence and bearing witness, on numerous conversations during long flights on the government plane. Lamby is »always at the heart of the action,« in a way that is as impressive as it is hard to comprehend. Yet there is no doubting his credibility and authenticity – not least because he refrains entirely from the alarmism so typical of his profession and remains analytically levelheaded at all times. This levelheadedness is also shown by his many political interviewees; for them, »sleepless nights« are part of the job description.

His judgment of the three-party coalition is tough: »The friction that exists between the three very different parties and the equally different personalities does not produce any creativity, but instead a self-destructive energy« (p. 351). Despite this, he appeals for understanding. This government was dragged unprepared with »frightening and inescapable violence into a geopolitical dispute« that other governing parties would have been just as unable to manage smoothly.

3. Peter Michael Lingens (2023): Zeitzeuge eines Jahrhunderts. Eine Familiengeschichte zwischen Adolf Hitler, Bruno Kreisky, Donald Trump und Wladimir Putin. [Witness to a century. A family history between Adolf Hitler, Bruno Kreisky, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.] Vienna: Böhlau, 575 pages, EUR 47.

Austrian journalist Peter Michael Lingens will celebrate his 85th birthday on August 8. In Zeitzeuge eines Jahrhunderts, he sets out his extensive family history in 84 chapters and an epilogue. There is no doubting Lingens’ position as one of Austria’s most important opinion journalists, having led the leading weekly magazine Profil for many years, first as Editor in Chief and later as publisher. After leaving in 1987, he spent some time developing business journalism for children and young people, before leading the Austrian edition of the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche from 1990. Lingens spent much of the second half of the 1990s as a columnist for the daily newspaper Der Standard, which had been founded in 1988. In 2001 he returned to Profil as a columnist. A decade and a half later, in 2017, he moved to the competing paper Falter, where he regularly publishes columns to this day.

Peter Michael Lingens invites us to join him on a fascinating journey through time, through Austrian and international crises – as well as offering candid insights into aspects of his life as a journalist that were challenging for him personally. The crimes of the Nazi regime and the insincere way in which Austria’s share of the blame was handled for a long time are important topics among many others – not least due to the very dominant role of his mother, who was forced to work as a doctor in the concentration camp at Auschwitz and was honored as one of the Righteous at Yad Vashem.

As a journalist, Lingens has never been short of confidence. For a long time, this was a useful factor in transforming Austrian journalism from the ancillary role in which it largely remained even into the 1960s into a respected authority providing enlightenment, critique and scrutiny. At the same time, many chapters are linked by a common theme, noting how both government and some opposition politicians (the FPÖ) have repeatedly put pressure on journalistic media and its actors, and continue to do so.

It is a real shame that this volume has not yet been covered in the feuilleton in Germany or Switzerland. After all, the autobiographical journey through time, from the 1930s to the present day, offers numerous insights, both entertaining and analytical, into Austrian contemporary and media history. The relatively high price of the book is also likely to prevent it reaching a wide audience. A register of persons mentioned and a largely chronological structure helps the reader to gain access to the content of this extensive book. However, it is made slightly less enjoyable in some places by »annoying typos and wording whoopsies.« As Barbara Tóth critically noted in her review in Falter: »A personality like Lingens, such a powerful writer and storyteller, surely deserved better editing.«

Despite this, we still see the book as highly deserving of a place in our top ten.

Places 4-10

4. Andrea von Treuenfeld (2023): Jüdisch jetzt! Junge Jüdinnen und Juden über ihr Leben in Deutschland. [Jewish now! Young Jews on their lives in Germany.] Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 252 pages, EUR 22.

Following a career as a newspaper journalist, Andrea von Treuenfeld now works freelance as a book author. Over the years, she has published half a dozen relevant, more historically motivated works on Jewish destinies, Israel and the consequences of Auschwitz. Her most recent work, made frighteningly topical by recent events, gives a voice to young Jews, most of whom live permanently in Germany, as members of a small minority. Literally: »Most of the protagonists of this book have experienced attacks or abuse […] These are their original stories, which I have merely written in a chronological, coherent form« (p. 7). The 26 portraits, based on interviews, testify to a wide variety of experiences and attitudes, professions and paths through life. A glossary stretching to more than 20 pages helps the reader to understand this particular world. It remains shameful and incomprehensible that almost all of those who decided as young Jews to live in Germany are unable to do so without being confronted with the issue of antisemitism.

5. Giovanni di Lorenzo (2023): Vom Leben und anderen Zumutungen. Gespräche. [On life and other impositions. Conversations.] Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 341 pages, EUR 25.

Giovanni di Lorenzo has been Editor in Chief of Die Zeit since 2004. Back in 2014, he published Vom Aufstieg und anderen Niederlagen [On advancement and other defeats], a collection of 20 extensive interviews. Success comes with obligations. So now here is the sequel: a volume filled with his »favorite,« as he himself says in the introduction, interviews from the last ten years of his work. His selection of 19 interviewees is once again extremely diverse, from Pope Francis to Viktor Orbán, from Udo Jürgens to Umberto Eco, from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Angela Merkel, from Riccardo Muti to Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

Each interview is preceded by an introduction that describes the framework in which it took place in a charming and amusing fashion. In the foreword, the 65-year-old reports on the changes that he has noticed with concern over the last few years in his encounters with journalists and public figures. For example, interviews are now often edited afterwards by PR departments. He is also under the impression that more interviewees nowadays are worried about saying the wrong thing. In the foreword, he also reveals why he was not permitted to reprint the Die Zeit interview with singer Helene Fischer in this book.

6. Katty Salié (2023): Das andere Gesicht. Depressionen im Rampenlicht. [The other face. Depression in the limelight.] Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 346 pages, EUR 25.

Katty Salié presents the cultural magazine show aspekte on ZDF, where she is known as a likeable and relaxed presenter. As a result, it is initially surprising to read a book by her about depression. Although this issue is now talked about more often and more openly, not least since the pandemic, the illness still carries numerous taboos. The author herself experiences this when she is forced to admit that she is ill and has to stay in hospital much longer than expected. The more she grapples with her illness, the more aware she becomes of how widespread depression is – especially in her line of work. For this book, Salié investigated the life and medical histories of more than a dozen people. The result is an excellent read for anyone affected, as well as their family and friends – and especially for anyone who has ever thought: »Just pull yourself together.«

7. Christian Bommarius (2024): Todeswalzer. Der Sommer 1944. Munich: dtv, 316 pages, EUR 26.

A graduate of German Studies and Law, Bommarius worked as a deskman for the Berliner Zeitung from 1998 to 2017, before moving to the Süddeutsche Zeitung as a columnist. His journalistic work led to him being awarded the Heinrich Mann Prize by the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. After multiple books on various phases of German history and, recently, a great deal of praise for his volume Im Rausch des Aufruhrs. Deutschland 1923 (also dtv, 2022), he now applies his particular storytelling technique to the wartime summer of 1944, 80 years ago.

Bommarius’ kaleidoscopic storytelling begins on June 6, 1944 in Obersalzberg. The previous evening, Adolf Hitler had been reminiscing with Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels until deep into the night. The next morning, Hitler was still asleep as the Allies landed in Normandy. By late August 1944, we have already arrived at the last, 13th chapter in Königsberg. The reading journey that takes us there keeps us captivated with intensive storytelling. His unagitated, sometimes sarcastic descriptions make a stark warning of the absurdity and horror of the »total« war, which Germany has clearly already lost, but that will rob many more people of their lives by the end of the actual war than have already been butchered by mid-1944.

The journalist’s mosaic-like story is based on a diverse range of sources: the diaries of Goebbels, Anne Frank and many others, speeches, letters, newspaper articles and reports from contemporary witnesses. The literature used is listed at the end of the book; the quotes are backed up with footnotes.

8. Arthur Landwehr (2024): Die zerrissenen Staaten von Amerika. Alte Mythen und neue Werte – ein Land kämpft um seine Identität. [The ruptured states of America. Old myths and new values – a land fights for its identity.] Munich: Droemer Verlag, 288 pages, EUR 24.

There is a long tradition of books by German US correspondents. All the major newspapers have been represented in the USA for decades, and the (public service) broadcasters maintain well-staffed studios for radio, television and online. Many journalists are not only seasoned reporters for their media, but have also published books, some of which have become bestsellers. Arthur Landwehr was ARD’s radio correspondent in Washington, D.C., for many years. His book is intended to prepare us for the fateful presidential election of 2024. In it, he handles the complex content not as a reporter, but as an analyst, commentator and editorial writer, all with a consistently American perspective. »White anxiety« plays a key role here, with whites projected to make up less than 50 percent of the population by 2044 at the latest (p. 87). These are the voters that Trump concentrates on, and with whom he is successful. Comparable with scientific analysis, this thought-provoking book is based not only on the author’s journalistic expertise, but also on numerous reputable sources.

9. Tillmann Bendikowski (2023): Himmel hilf! Warum wir Halt in übernatürlichen Kräften suchen. Aberglaube und magisches Denken vom Mittelalter bis heute. [Heaven help us! Why we seek support in supernatural forces. Superstition and magical thinking from the Middle Ages to the present day.] Munich: C.Bertelsmann Verlag, 320 pages, EUR 25.

Times of crisis frighten people. It is therefore no wonder that superstition, rituals and myths are often revived or boosted during a wide range of crises for civilization, as a strategy for managing fear. Even among many enlightened people, moderate forms of superstition or soothing ritual are never entirely eliminated – knocking on wood to ward off bad luck, or the fact that many hotels and some rail companies avoid the number 13.

In his latest book, historian and journalist Bendikowski examines the historical and modern-day reasons why people seek support from supernatural forces in the form of superstition and magical thinking. He describes and analyzes the phenomena systematically and in detail based on a broad study of the specialist literature and on online research into relevant services. His 14-page bibliography and 20 pages of footnotes bear witness to the careful research behind this large-scale, well-structured, easy-to-read journalistic work. Bendikowski even includes the repeated battles against superstition (which is very stubborn).

Superstition is not really a help in life. But this book could be a help in emancipating people from superstition, rituals and myths. »Book help us!«

10. Helene Bubrowski (2023): Die Fehlbaren. Politiker zwischen Hochmut, Lüge und Unerbittlichkeit. [The fallible. Politicians between pride, lies and inexorability.] Munich: dtv Verlagsgesellschaft, 222 pages, EUR 24.

A graduate of law and international law and a member of the editorial office of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 2013, in this book Helene Bubrowski boldly explores a topic that it would be impossible for her (or any other) broadsheet newspaper to cover so broadly. At the same time, in her acknowledgments at the end, she makes it clear that a project like this would not have been possible without the support of a large editorial office, her managers, colleagues and friends, nor without the benefits of belonging to the editorial office of the »newspaper for Germany« (consider the prestige of a title like the FAZ when contacting people on the phone, for example). As a correspondent, Bubrowski knows the routines and pressures of politics and the difference between front of house and behind the scenes. The »appeal for an error culture in politics« (p. 18) could also be the title of a study in political science – although that would undoubtedly only be half as thought-provoking, detailed and amusing to read.

Bonus Review: Recently Translated into German

Judith Mackrell: The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II. German translation by Sonja Hauser and Susanne Hornfeck. With numerous illustrations. Berlin: Insel Verlag, 542 pages, EUR 28.

Spending so much time looking at »book journalism« quickly gives one the impression that no other creative craft is so adaptable in its methods and so diverse in its topics as journalism. Stretching to more than 500 pages, this book by the United Kingdom’s best-known dance critic, Judith Mackrell, confirms this to be true. The Correspondents is not her first biographical work, but it is one in which she has moved away from her usual topics and conducted intensive research. The result is a monograph in which elegant storytelling connects multiple levels: a (contemporary) history of the first half of the 20th century and a few years after the Second World War, told from the point of view and based on the journalistic work of six legendary female war reporters: Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998), Clare Hollingworth (1911-2017), Lee Miller (1907-1977), Helen Kirkpatrick (1909-1997), Sigrid Schultz (1893-1980) and Virginia Cowles (1910-1983).

Through their admirable journalistic work, these women – and others who were less famous – achieved something that swiftly became unremarkable: women reporting on war. »Every one of them was clever, ambitious, highly educated. (…) And all of them watched in detail what the others were writing« (p. 15). As well as the biographies of these six remarkable journalists (alongside Ernest Hemingway, who was the husband and professional competitor of Martha Gellhorn for a time), we also read shocking background reports from the group.

This is one of the major benefits of Mackrell’s research. After all, such publications are usually the result of military censorship and self-censorship, propaganda and »embedded journalism,« which is limited in its ability to do justice to the horrific reality at the front.

Another strand of storytelling, which could hardly be more topical today, is the way the governments outside the Nazi realm hesitated to fight national socialism – despite the observations and insights that journalists repeatedly presented to them. The eyewitness reports on the enthusiasm for Hitler and his accomplices should be required reading in schools, as well as clearly demonstrating how essential journalism is.

In Chapter 16 (»Buchenwald, Dachau and Nuremberg, 1945«), the author writes: »Nothing of this war had prepared them (the journalists; WRL) for the horror of the concentration camps, and the monstrosities of this experience, the images that burned into their souls« (p. 425). Martha Gellhorn put it as follows: »It was as though I had fallen off a cliff in Dachau and suffered from concussion ever since« (p. 469).

Mackrell’s book is dedicated to the female pioneers of war reporting. Decades later, in the Vietnam War, there were 70 women in the press corps. Today, and even more so with the war in Gaza, the author sees this type of journalism, in which the war correspondents are on the ground, »recording the weather,« researching, observing and conducting interviews themselves (eyewitness reports, researching themselves, »recording the weather,« persisting in remaining on the ground) (p. 483) as under threat from (un)social media (p. 483). This ultimately begs the question of whether this beautifully designed book, with so many pictures, does not perhaps also tell of the disappearance of a profession and a specific understanding thereof.

The translation was financially supported by the Ludwig-Delp-Foundation.

1 https://www.ardmediathek.de/serie/ernstfall-regieren-am-limit/staffel-1/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9zZGIvc3RJZC8xNTQ4/1


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Citation

Fritz Hausjell and Wolfgang R. Langenbucher: The top 10 of book journalism. Recommendations for books by journalists. In: Journalism Research, Vol. 7 (2), 2024, pp. 232-240. DOI: 10.1453/2569-152X-22024-14254-en

ISSN

2569-152X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1453/2569-152X-22024-14254-en

First published online

August 2024