How I Got to Be This Hip: The Collected Works of One of America's Preeminent Journalists

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Summary: Farrell's unique perception illuminates his subjects
Review: As a Seattlelite I followed Barry Farrell's front page work at the Seattle Post Intelligencer from the late 1950s, after which he became a top writer-columnist for Time, Inc. at both Time and Life. One shivers with joy that a portion of Farrell's great jounalism is preserved in this new collection, edited by Steve Hawk, one of Farrell's students and friends. This a book that bathes one in nostalgia as his stories range through the 60s, the 70s and the 80s, until his untimely death in 1985. Farrell was a writer of excitement. Some of his insights and phrases are jewels; his skepticism is precise and never overwhelming. Small wonder then that such writers as Norman Mailer, Calvin Trillin and John Gregory Dunne willingly contribute to this remarkable collection. Farrell taught nonfiction writing at the U. of California at Santa Barbara while he was a West Coast editor of Harper's and a free-lancer in many magazines. He hated sophistry and hypocrisy and denounced both with passion and skill. "How I Got This Hip" should be a test model for students in all of America's classes in the art of journalistic non-fiction writing. He was a modern giant of this terribly demanding genre. Seattle Reader ,

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Summary: A three-decades insight by a great writer-journalist
Review: As a Seattlelite I followed Barry Farrell's front page work at the Seattle Post Intelligencer from the late 1950s, after which he became a top writer-columnist for Time, Inc. at both Time and Life. One shivers with joy that a portion of Farrell's great jounalism is preserved in this new collection, edited by Steve Hawk, one of Farrell's students and friends. This a book that bathes one in nostalgia as his stories range through the 60s, the 70s and the 80s, until his untimely death in 1985. Farrell was a writer of excitement. Some of his insights and phrases are jewels; his skepticism is precise and never overwhelming. Small wonder then that such writers as Norman Mailer, Calvin Trillin and John Gregory Dunne willingly contribute to this remarkable collection. Farrell taught nonfiction writing at the U. of California at Santa Barbara while he was a West Coast editor of Harper's and a free-lancer in many magazines. He hated sophistry and hypocrisy and denounced both with passion and skill. "How I Got This Hip" should be a test model for students in all of America's classes in the art of journalistic non-fiction writing. He was a modern giant of this terribly demanding genre. Seattle Reader ,

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Summary: A magnificent collection by a finely focused journalist
Review: Barry Farrell died too young, in 1984. This book will keep his memory alive for those who learned from his lapidary prose. I wish I could have been one of his students--but in a way, having read his work, I feel that in a way, I am.

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Summary: A magnificent collection by a finely focused journalist
Review: Barry Farrell died too young, in 1984. This book will keep his memory alive for those who learned from his lapidary prose. I wish I could have been one of his students--but in a way, having read his work, I feel that in a way, I am.

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Summary: Immersion journalism at its finest.
Review: Barry Farrell is a name I didn't know before two weeks ago. Barrey Farrell is now a name I won't forget. As a young journalist, I think this book is an essential read for anyone considering a career in the field. But anyone interested in reading great stories that take a smart, comprehensive view of a subject will find just that in this little green book. Farrell is an angel of a writer. But what I admire more is his hard-nosed reporting. After reading some of these stories, for instance "Stalking the Hillside Strangler," it awed me knowing how much footwork had to go into such exquisite work. This book is a clinic on how to report and write, and I will turn to it often for inspiration.

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Summary: Exquisite Writing
Review: Barry Farrell's smooth and vivid prose evokes an earlier, familiar time. His essays remind us how much America has changed during the past 30 years -- and how much it has remained the same.

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Summary: Exquisite works by a writer's writer
Review: Certainly I'm not an objective reviewer. I attended Barry Farrell's classes at UC Santa Barbara in the 1970s -- and was, I believe, rather a disappointment to him -- but he nonetheless became one of my most important role models as a writer. What I've long regretted, however, was not having more of his writing on my bookshelf. Barry mostly published in magazines, and so it's been hard even for those of us who are devoted to his work to find and collect any significant fraction of his lifetime output. I own and cherish a few aging magazines featuring his writing, but these bits and pieces barely scratch the surface of his 30 fruitful years of shoe-leather journalism. This book, then, is a wonderful and long-overdue development. I had read perhaps a third of these pieces, and was delighted to discover them anew. The other two-thirds of the book was an absolute delight, each page a treasure of flowing language and unerring eye for detail. Of course, it also brought back to my ear Barry's voice, and images of him I'll always carry with me: coffe at the outdoor cafe in front of the library at UC Santa Barbara after class, or the time he cajoled Joan Dideon and John Gregory Dunne into visiting our small class of 12 or 15 students in the English Department's spartan conference room. So, take it from a blatantly partisan -- but completely sincere -- reviewer: buy this book! For heaven's sake, if you love great non-fiction writing -- if you are devoted to writers like Joan Dideon, John McPhee, the non-fiction of Wallance Stegner, and other master wordsmiths of our age -- you will not be disappointed.

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Summary: Certainly hipper than I
Review: I lucked into this book when it came out in 1999; my editor asked me to review it. I was previously unfamilliar with Farrell's work; now I am thrilled to see this book is still in print.

Farrell is a writer's journalist. This is not the sensationalist, info-tainment, "if-it-bleeds-it-leads" garbage you see on Fox News. He goes deep beneath the surface of his story, looking for the larger truths as much as the simple truth. Many of these truths hurt as much as they enlighten. He covers topics ranging from kite-flying to the Hillside Strangler with insight and style. His pieces on serial killers and rape victims are sensitive, yet they pack a serious punch.

This book is much more than a collection of amazing snapshots of recent American history -- it's also literature. No matter what the subject matter, his passion for writing shines through; no matter how gruesome a scene he describes, his style leaves you jubilant.

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Summary: A truly wonderful book
Review: I've been reading with enormous delight this collection of articles by Barry Farrell. It's a posthumous collection by a brilliant writer who died in 1984. What an unexpected thrill it was to discover this book's existence. It helps bring back to life an unfortunately neglected writer. I knew him briefly (too briefly) -- a fine guy. Barry Farrell's bracing journalistic style and humanity take the reader back to a better time in journalism when writers cared deeply about their subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: A truly wonderful book
Review: I've been reading with enormous delight this collection of articles by Barry Farrell. It's a posthumous collection by a brilliant writer who died in 1984. What an unexpected thrill it was to discover this book's existence. It helps bring back to life an unfortunately neglected writer. I knew him briefly (too briefly) -- a fine guy. Barry Farrell's bracing journalistic style and humanity take the reader back to a better time in journalism when writers cared deeply about their subject matter.