This course explores how nonfiction writers have used various media to convey their ideas, what their messages have been and what techniques they’ve used to reach their audiences. We will examine nonfiction in traditional media such as books, articles, op-eds and reviews as well as in blogs and videos that will cover such topics as problems with college and education, death and dying, big cities and crime, religion, the economy with particular emphasis on how it affects real people’s lives, and the business of food—at the table and behind the scenes in the kitchen. Readings will include work by Gay Talese, Frank Bruni, Che Guevara, M.F.K. Fisher, Barbara Ehrenreich, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Charlie LeDuff.