While penning 'The Art Spy,' Michelle Young learned how to meticulously research subjects who are no longer alive and stories that are not widely known. Here, she shares tips on how you can do it too.
Oh, I can't wait to read your book Michelle--it sounds fascinating! It was such a pleasure working with you when you contributed an article to the Wilson Quarterly about the efforts to protect Ukraine's art. It is great to have more insights into your research and reporting.
Thank you so much!! I loved reporting that story for Wilson Quarterly and working with you on the editing. That whole issue was so timely and of course, still relevant today.
There are a pair of (non-fiction) books I read recently that both demonstrate the benefit of extensive research in defining the bare essence of a person or an era.
The first is 'Nick Drake: The Life' by Richard Morton Jack, which draws on reams of interviews and research and also benefits from the Drake family opening up their private archives and then being generous enough to stand back and allow the author to tell the story of his subject's short life, warts and all. I have read other Drake biographies where there is a degree of romanticism and editorialisation – you get the beats of the story but you never feel like you've really met the man. Morton Jack opts for a dry breakdown of the facts in chronological order. Gradually what emerges is the shifting outline of a person caught in a mental downward spiral that was never so well defined in the other biographies. The depiction of serious mental illness that emerges is actually quite upsetting and will be immediately recognisable as authentic to anyone who has experienced it either first-hand or by proxy through a loved-one.
The other book is 'Chaos' by Tom O'Neill, which is ostensibly about the Manson murders but is really more about the background to the murders and the circumstances that allowed them to take place. It is an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism that speaks to the resourcefulness and tenacity of O'Neill who received a lot of pushback and open hostility from certain parties who stood to lose from the received wisdom on the case being challenged. Like Morton Jack, by assembling an abundance of the facts and not straying too far into the realm of speculation, he creates a vivid picture of the era and the personalities who defined it. Even those who are long dead – the former Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson, or the enigmatic figure of Reeve Whitsun, who was probably CIA, come into focus and you can get a sense of who they were – their raw humanity.
Oh, I can't wait to read your book Michelle--it sounds fascinating! It was such a pleasure working with you when you contributed an article to the Wilson Quarterly about the efforts to protect Ukraine's art. It is great to have more insights into your research and reporting.
Stephanie, hi! Such a thoughtful comment. We can't wait to read it, too!
Thank you so much!! I loved reporting that story for Wilson Quarterly and working with you on the editing. That whole issue was so timely and of course, still relevant today.
There are a pair of (non-fiction) books I read recently that both demonstrate the benefit of extensive research in defining the bare essence of a person or an era.
The first is 'Nick Drake: The Life' by Richard Morton Jack, which draws on reams of interviews and research and also benefits from the Drake family opening up their private archives and then being generous enough to stand back and allow the author to tell the story of his subject's short life, warts and all. I have read other Drake biographies where there is a degree of romanticism and editorialisation – you get the beats of the story but you never feel like you've really met the man. Morton Jack opts for a dry breakdown of the facts in chronological order. Gradually what emerges is the shifting outline of a person caught in a mental downward spiral that was never so well defined in the other biographies. The depiction of serious mental illness that emerges is actually quite upsetting and will be immediately recognisable as authentic to anyone who has experienced it either first-hand or by proxy through a loved-one.
The other book is 'Chaos' by Tom O'Neill, which is ostensibly about the Manson murders but is really more about the background to the murders and the circumstances that allowed them to take place. It is an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism that speaks to the resourcefulness and tenacity of O'Neill who received a lot of pushback and open hostility from certain parties who stood to lose from the received wisdom on the case being challenged. Like Morton Jack, by assembling an abundance of the facts and not straying too far into the realm of speculation, he creates a vivid picture of the era and the personalities who defined it. Even those who are long dead – the former Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson, or the enigmatic figure of Reeve Whitsun, who was probably CIA, come into focus and you can get a sense of who they were – their raw humanity.