This book examines the history, theory and journalistic practice of profile writing.

Sue Joseph is Senior Lecturer in the Journalism and Creative Writing programs at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Richard Lance Keeble is Professor in the School of English and Journalism at the University of Lincoln, UK

Introduction: Profiling-Painting a Picture in Words Richard Lance Keeble and Sue Joseph Section I: History of the Profile: From Canterbury Tales to the Present Day 1. The Pre-History of Profiles, 1380-1800: Chaucer, News Ballads, the English Civil War and Boswell Grant Hannis 2. Profiling Pitt: The First Political Profile and its Legacies Nikki Hessell 3. Precursor to the Profile: The Character Sketch in Colonial Australia Willa McDonald 4. Profile and Counter-Profile: On Joseph Mitchell's Joe Goulds Mateus Yuri Passos 5. The Return of the Long-Form Profile: A Case Study of the Quarterly Essay and The Monthly in Australia Matthew Ricketson Section II: The Manufacture of Celebrity and 'the Ordinary' 6. Edna Staebler and the Lives of Women Bruce Gillespie 7. Disclosure and Enclosure: Revisiting Media Profiles of Jimmy Savile Simon Cross 8. Profiles of Lived Experience: Charles Reznikoff, Muriel Rukeyser and Mark Nowak William Dow Section III: More than Just the Individual: Profiling Communities, Countries, Movements 9. John Bull Scrambling for Africa: A Portrait of the English at the Heyday of Empire Isabel Soares 10. How Profiles in the Women's Penny Paper/Woman's Herald Challenged Cultural Stereotypes-and Promoted Feminism F. Elizabeth Gray 11. Profiling Controversial Social Movements: Arundhati Roy's Challenges, Style and Insights Jane Chapman Section IV: This Sporting Life 12. The Dark Side of the Moon of Walter Mitty: George Plimpton and the Reinvention of Reality Nick Nuttall 13. New Rules of the Game: Sports Journalism and Profiles Peter English Section V: Profiling and the Trauma Narrative 14. The Empathetic Profiler and Ethics: Trauma Reporting and Advocacy Sue Joseph 15. Profiling War: Managing Trauma in Reporting Horror-the Case of BoStjan VidemSek Leonora Flis