Points of Departure: An Anthology of Non-Fiction

This richly diverse collection presents the apprentice writer with an overview of the entire range of prose craftsmanship. Chosen to illustrate the various prose techniques that define non-fiction writing, this entertaining sampler includes letters of Jane Austen, the satire of Jonathan Swift, biography by Virginia Woolf, New Yorker reportage, a George Orwell essay, and history by Arnold Toynbee. From simple chronicles to theoretical essays, these pieces reveal the continuous process by which authors transform their experience into prose – and the choices they make in pursuing the craft of writing. As editor James Moffett writes, this unique anthology is intended for “that inner author in everyone who is constantly fashioning knowledge from experience and who at any moment can go to paper.”