History is scholarship. It is also art, and it is literature. It has no need to emulate fiction, morph into memoir, or become self-referential. But those who write it do need to be conscious of their craft. And what is true for history is true for all serious nonfiction. -- from the book Voice and Vision is as much a tour de force of critical reading as it is an incomparable guide to the writing of history, a brilliant elaboration of the subtle dialect between "art" and "craft" in nonfiction prose. -- Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums Pyne offers a powerful and persuasive case for works that combine the techniques of great literature -- including a novelist's eye for narrative, language, character development, and scene setting -- with a historian's passion for factual accuracy and respect for the rules of evidence. This is a remarkable book. -- Steven Mintz, author of Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood This engaging discussion of historical narrative is part meditation and part manual. It distills the experience, gained from wide and generous reading as well as prolific writing, of a master of the genre. -- Harriet Ritvo, author of The Platypus and the Mermaid: And Other Figments of the Classifying Imagination Philanthropists seeking ways to add meaning and consequence to the academic pursuit known as "research and scholarship" could have a tremendous-and measurable-impact with one simple investment: purchase hundreds of copies of this book and distribute them to social science and humanities faculty and graduate students across the nation. -- Patty Limerick, author of the essay Dancing with Professors: The Trouble with Academic Prose

Stephen J. Pyne is a Regents Professor at Arizona State University. He is the author of many books, including Smokechasing and Tending Fire.

Packing Prose Part I. Arts * In the Beginning, Words * Art and Craft * Rules of Engagement * Nonfiction as Writing * Voice ... * ... and Vision * Designing * Plotting * Transitioning * Dramatizing * Editing I Part II. Crafts * Prose * Character * Setting * Point of View * Showing and Telling * Editing II * Figures of Speech * Technical Information * Questions of Scale Part III. Doing It * Theory and Practice * Writing Lives * Notes * Index