Into the Story is the first collection of the work of David Maraniss, one of the most honored and versatile writers of his generation. The thirty-two stories here cover a rich array of topics, ranging from seminal moments in modern history to intimate personal reflections, each piece illuminated by the author's deep reporting and singular sensibility. Maraniss is known for character studies that explain why people act as they do. Here he reveals Bill Clinton through his childhood not in Hope but in Hot Springs. Al Gore is examined through his years as an investigative reporter. Jesse Jackson is considered through his uneasy relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr. Barack Obama is viewed anew through the dreams from his mother, not his father. Vince Lombardi is portrayed during his most trying football game, the Ice Bowl.

The essence of Muhammad Ali is discovered long after his golden days in the ring. And the meaning of Roberto Clemente is found in his death. As a master of nonfiction narrative, Maraniss follows these simple rules: Go there, wherever "there" is. Be flexible. Avoid assumption and attitude. Fit yourself to the story, not the other way around. And look for the universal in the particular, searching for details that will bring a story alive and connect the event to the readers. He has brought those skills to each story in this collection, but most heart-wrenchingly to the accounts of loss -- his narratives of the tragedies of September 11 and Virginia Tech, as well as the accidental death of his little sister.

The worlds of newspapers and books are changing at dizzying speed. But what Maraniss holds most important, he writes, is the interplay of two eternal ideas. "The first is that the sifting of fact and truth from the chaff of unprocessed information or misinformation will always be essential. The second is that humans will always have a need to explain themselves through story. It is that combination that makes up what I do as a nonfiction narrative writer.".