The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm

Janet Malcolm's classic study of the bond between a writer and the person a writer writes about. At its center is the lawsuit that Jeffrey MacDonald, a former Green Beret convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters, brought against Joe McGinniss, the author of Fatal Vision. McGinniss had befriended MacDonald and let him believe the book would support his innocence, then portrayed him as guilty.

Drawing on interviews with the principals, their lawyers, jurors and expert witnesses, Malcolm retells the trial and turns it into a sharp, unsettling inquiry into the ethics of journalism, the limits of factual truth, and her own role as a reporter. Its famous opening line still sparks debate in newsrooms today.

Named one of the 100 best nonfiction books by the Modern Library and The Guardian. Vintage paperback, 176 pages.