Many female journalists came to the fore during the first and second world wars, and their perspective was very different to that of their male peers, who were reporting from the field. Specifically, they often wrote about war from the perspective of those left at home, struggling to keep the household afloat. And with 'How it feels to be forcibly fed' (1914) by Djuna Barnes, one of the world's very first experiential, or 'gonzo' journalists, came a new age of reporting. Since then, women have continued to break new ground in newspapers and magazines, redefining the world as we see it. Many of the pieces here feel almost unsettlingly relevant today -- the conclusions Emma 'Red' Goldman drew in her 1916 'The social aspects of birth control', Maddy Vegtel's 1930s article about becoming pregnant at 40, Eleanor Roosevelt's call for greater tolerance after America's race riots in 1943. Many have pushed other limits: Naomi Wolf's Beauty Myth brought feminism to a new generation; Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones caused a media revolution; Ruth Picardie's unflinchingly honest column about living with cancer in 1997 brought a wave of British candour and a host of imitators; and when two iconic women come face to face, we have at one end Dorothy Parker on Isadora Duncan (1928) and at the other Julie Burchill on Margaret Thatcher (2004). This collection of superlative writing, selected by the Sunday Times's most senior female editor, brings together the most influential, incisive, controversial, affecting and entertaining pieces of journalism by the best women in the business. Covering: War; Crime; Politics & Society; Sex & Romance; Body Image & Health; Family, Friendship & Birth; Emancipation & Having it All; Hearth & Home; Icons & Interviews. Including: Lynn Barber, Djuna Barnes, Julie Burchill, Angela Carter, Marie Colvin, Jilly Cooper, Joan Didion, Margaret Drabble, Helen Fielding, Zelda Fitzgerald, Kathryn Flett, Martha Gellhorn, Nicci Gerrard, Emma Goldman, Germaine Greer, Nicola Horlick, Erica Jong, Jamaica Kincaid, India Knight, Christina Lamb, Daphne du Maurier, Nancy Mitford, Suzanne Moore, Camille Paglia, Sylvia Pankhurst, Dorothy Parker, Allison Pearson, Ruth Picardie, Erin Pizzey, Eleanor Roosevelt, Zadie Smith, Susan Sontag, Gloria Steinem, Martha Stewart, Mary Stott, Jill Tweedie, Rebecca West, Zoe Williams, Jeanette Winterson, Naomi Wolf.

In the mid-twentieth century, Virginia Woolf published ‘Six Articles on London Life’ in Good Housekeeping magazine, a popular magazine where fashion, cookery and house decoration is largely featured. This first book-length study of what Woolf calls ‘little articles’ proposes to reassess the commissioned essays and read them in a chronological sequence in their original context as well as in the larger context of Woolf’s work. Drawing primarily on literary theory, intermedial studies, periodical studies and philosophy, this volume argues the essays which provided an original guided tour of London are creative and innovative works, combining several art forms while developing a photographic method. Further investigation examines the construct of Woolf’s essays as intermedial and as partaking both of theory and praxis; intermediality is closely connected here with her defense of a democratic ideal, itself grounded in a dialogue with her forebears. Far from being second-rate, the Good Housekeeping essays bring together aesthetic and political concerns and come out as playing a pivotal role: they redefine the essay as intermedial, signal Woolf’s turn to a more openly committed form of writing, and fit perfectly within Woolf’s essayistic and fictional oeuvre which they in turn illuminate.

This book argues that the personal voice, which is often disparaged in journalism teaching, is and always has been a prevalent form of journalism. Paradoxically, the aim of 'objective' reporters is often to be known for a distinctive 'voice'. This personal voice is becoming increasingly visible in the context of 'the confessional society'.

The 1970s witnessed a renaissance in women’s print culture, as feminist presses and bookshops sprang up in the wake of the second-wave women’s movement. At four decades’ remove from that heady era, however, the landscape looks dramatically different, with only one press from the period still active in contemporary publishing: Virago. This engaging history explains how, from modest beginnings, Virago managed to weather epochal transformations in gender politics, literary culture, and the book publishing business. Drawing on original interviews with many of the press's principal figures, it gives a compelling account of Virago’s place in recent women's history while also reflecting on the fraught relationship between activism and commerce.

Publisher description

The Survival Guide to Journalism is aimed not only at undergraduate and post-graduate students of Journalism, but indeed anyone from any background who is interested in making a living (full or part-time) either through their writing and editorial ability. In it you'll find some traditional journalistic principles as well as up-to-date information on where the best opportunities are today. My advice is deliberately hands-on and straight to the point, and I have included useful tips from top working professionals. There are exercises to try out and short Q&A sessions to help clear up any uncertainties there may be about each chapter. Where possible, I have included useful links and contacts to organisations that specialise in helping aspiring journalists to survive through those difficult first months and years. Because it pays to have the right survival skills, The Survival Guide to Journalism sums up the state of the industry today and how to establish yourself in it, as well as including practical guidelines on news and feature writing. The Survival Guide to Journalism concentrates on freelance journalism with the emphasis on practicalities such as sending an invoice or dealing with tax issues. More specialist areas of writing have also been covered such as arts reviewing, travel writing and blogging and the book highlights some of the exciting opportunities created by new media.

A straightforward homicide inquiry; just another day at the office for Detective Inspector Bailey Troy. But her investigation is destined to uncover a murderous conspiracy of unimaginable proportions. A beautiful young woman, heiress to her father’s biotech fortune, lies dead — killed by an assassin’s bullet to the head. The obvious suspect is Isaac Church, a smart but hormonal young IT geek with a good reason to hold a grudge and a steady hand with a gun. All the evidence points to him — it’s an open-and-shut, slam-dunk case. Except that it isn’t. The inquiry quickly unravels, the clues twisting into a labyrinth of dead-ends and contradictions. Everyone, it seems, has something to hide. And for Isaac Church, the investigation could prove deadly.