A Crooked Line: The Perils and Rewards of a Life in Freelance Journalism
Michael Shapiro
Mar 2027 · Travelers' Tales
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About this ebook
“Here is a writer with a rare gift for appreciation and for reminding us of all we have to celebrate in our fractured world.” —Pico Iyer, author of The Half Known Life
Behind the scenes of a globe-spanning career in freelance journalism
With a Foreword by Tim Cahill
A Crooked Line celebrates an age when print journalism changed lives and made the world a better place. That era may be winding down, but this perceptive book makes the case for why incisive writing will always matter.
Over the course of his 40-year career, Michael Shapiro has reported from more than 20 countries, writing for National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and many other top publications. But the itinerant writer’s life, while rewarding, has never been easy.
Shapiro worked as an investigative reporter and staff writer for San Francisco Bay Area newspapers before letting go of a regular paycheck and setting out to share stories of people and places worldwide. The exhilarations of the open road, “afoot and light-hearted” as Whitman wrote, were tempered by the challenges of freelancing, from making a living to working with heavy-handed editors.
His stories put people first: For a feature about Puerto Rico’s recovery after Hurricane Maria, he visited farmers who spoke of shifting from exporting produce to growing food for local people. His profile of a Yosemite photographer, who climbed Half Dome after being diagnosed with cancer, brought the man’s big-hearted humanity to the fore.
Shapiro is known as a travel writer, but his work goes far beyond global dispatches. In this book he shares stories of:
A Crooked Line highlights Shapiro’s best journalism and includes behind-the-scenes anecdotes about how he pitched stories and got assignments worldwide. Postscripts detail what happened afterward; some include letters from people he wrote about, sharing what his coverage meant to them.
Due to the dramatic changes in the journalistic landscape, a career like Shapiro’s couldn’t begin today. Yet the skills he honed as a journalist—empathetic listening, concise and evocative writing, and a keen sense of what matters—remain as relevant as ever. The tales and insights in A Crooked Line provide a timely affirmation of journalism’s enduring power to illuminate the human experience. This penetrating book reminds us that whatever life path we choose, it’s vital to make it our own.
Behind the scenes of a globe-spanning career in freelance journalism
With a Foreword by Tim Cahill
A Crooked Line celebrates an age when print journalism changed lives and made the world a better place. That era may be winding down, but this perceptive book makes the case for why incisive writing will always matter.
Over the course of his 40-year career, Michael Shapiro has reported from more than 20 countries, writing for National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and many other top publications. But the itinerant writer’s life, while rewarding, has never been easy.
Shapiro worked as an investigative reporter and staff writer for San Francisco Bay Area newspapers before letting go of a regular paycheck and setting out to share stories of people and places worldwide. The exhilarations of the open road, “afoot and light-hearted” as Whitman wrote, were tempered by the challenges of freelancing, from making a living to working with heavy-handed editors.
His stories put people first: For a feature about Puerto Rico’s recovery after Hurricane Maria, he visited farmers who spoke of shifting from exporting produce to growing food for local people. His profile of a Yosemite photographer, who climbed Half Dome after being diagnosed with cancer, brought the man’s big-hearted humanity to the fore.
Shapiro is known as a travel writer, but his work goes far beyond global dispatches. In this book he shares stories of:
- saving Sunset magazine’s priceless archive of Western life (including photos made by Ansel Adams) after Time Inc. told staffers to toss everything into a dumpster
- an investigation into the U.S. government’s attempt to conceal the circumstances of pro football star and soldier Pat Tillman’s death during the war in Afghanistan
- writing a tribute about environmental hero Jane Goodall just hours after she died
- how the Grateful Dead’s ecstatic songs celebrate the wonders of nature.
A Crooked Line highlights Shapiro’s best journalism and includes behind-the-scenes anecdotes about how he pitched stories and got assignments worldwide. Postscripts detail what happened afterward; some include letters from people he wrote about, sharing what his coverage meant to them.
Due to the dramatic changes in the journalistic landscape, a career like Shapiro’s couldn’t begin today. Yet the skills he honed as a journalist—empathetic listening, concise and evocative writing, and a keen sense of what matters—remain as relevant as ever. The tales and insights in A Crooked Line provide a timely affirmation of journalism’s enduring power to illuminate the human experience. This penetrating book reminds us that whatever life path we choose, it’s vital to make it our own.
“Here is a writer with a rare gift for appreciation and for reminding us of all we have to celebrate in our fractured world.” —Pico Iyer, author of The Half Known Life
Behind the scenes of a globe-spanning career in freelance journalism
With a Foreword by Tim Cahill
A Crooked Line celebrates a...
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About the author
Michael Shapiro has traveled to Nepal and Guatemala for National Geographic, to Mongolia and Cuba for The Washington Post, and to Wales for The Los Angeles Times. He covers environmental issues for Sierra magazine and writes about the performing arts for San Francisco area newspapers. A TEDx speaker, Shapiro is the author of The Creative Spark, which includes interviews with Smokey Robinson, Amy Tan, and Francis Ford Coppola; and A Sense of Place, a collection of conversations with travel writers, including Paul Theroux, Peter Matthiessen, Frances Mayes, and Bill Bryson. He lives with his wife in Sonoma County, California.
Michael Shapiro has traveled to Nepal and Guatemala for National Geographic, to Mongolia and Cuba for The Washington Post, and to Wales for The Los Angeles Times. He covers environmental issues for Sierra magazine and writes about the performing arts for San Francisco area newspapers. A TEDx spea...
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