There is a new book out called “Assassins, Eccentrics, Politicians, and other Persons of Interest.” It is a collection of stories — 50, to be exact — written by Mississippi journalist Curtis Wilkie. The thing is a gem.

In a four-decade career that began in the early 1960s, Wilkie, when it came to news, covered the 20th century’s gumbo: he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Delta; watched Hunter S. Thompson dodge an editor in Colorado; chatted with lesbians under conservative fire in south Mississippi; hung out in a religiously divided Bethlehem around Christmastime; and rode a bus into Washington, D.C., with Billy Carter sipping Jack Daniel’s.

Outside of a few novels, my reading tastes lean away from fiction. I have trouble explaining why. If pressed, though, I would explain that it is because of literary journalists whose work reaches fiction’s emotional heights on the steps of hard won facts woven together with a poet’s care. A true story told well is potent. As practitioners go you will find no one better than Wilkie.

A sample taste of his new book follows.

On Bill Clinton’s first presidential run: “He would be the first presidential nominee produced by the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll generation, a stigma he has borne throughout his campaign.”

On the 1967 Neshoba County Fair: “Six thousand persons lunched on hot dogs, fried chicken, roast turkey, and demagoguery at the year’s biggest political spectacular here Wednesday.”

On Jimmy Carter facing defeat: “He showed little of the old Carter confidence. His complexion was ruddy, and the splotches were visible under the pancake makeup he wore to make himself look healthier on television.”

On a New Orleans eatery: “For ninety years, Galatoire’s has occupied a place at the head of Bourbon Street, serving as an outpost of civilization in that raunchy strip.”

I should admit I know Wilkie. He is a journalism teacher at the University of Mississippi today, and I took one of his courses while a student there. His reputation as a journalism legend can intimidate. In person, though, he is bearded and amiable, often in worn jeans and swell.

What he did in class should not be called “lecture.” Typically, his students would bring to class a newspaper or magazine story that had drawn their attention. A 50-minute chat about the piece would ensue. What worked? What did not? Wilkie would eventually explain his thoughts on the story in an approachable, digression-filled way, and anyone listening would learn, through something like osmosis, how to approach a subject — with empathy, peeled eyes and heart.

That approach is on display throughout “Assassins, Eccentrics, Politicians, and other Persons of Interest.”

In the book’s “Introduction,” Wilkie writes about leaving his home state of Mississippi in the late 1960s under the same type of unseen pull that sent Willie Morris “North Toward Home.”

Eventually, Wilkie came back, and he writes, “It was wonderful to be back, to be at play again in the garden of rogues and to harvest their bizarre stories.”

With this collection, readers reap the rewards of his journey.

William Browning is managing editor of The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.

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