The Orchid Thief

Orlean uses a type of immersion reporting to research this book. Unlike in some forms of this technique, which call for the author to blend in unnoticed, Orlean makes no attempt to hide, becoming a prominent figure in the story and, thus, a character of her own in the book.

Traditionally, journalism focused on being as objective as possible in the telling of a story. In the 1960s, however, a style of writing that came to be known as “new journalism” changed some of the old conventions. One such change involved writers who included themselves in the stories they reported, often spending months or even years with their subjects to get an in-depth perspective. Prominent writers such as Gay Talese, Thomas Wolfe, and Hunter Thompson were among those who practiced this technique.

Immersion reporting can be used in investigative journalism, in which case the writer is undercover, in a sense—trying to become part of the story without identifying him- or herself as a journalist in order to get an insider’s viewpoint or uncover something secret. Often, however, the writer immerses to observe as much as possible and report on the facts with firsthand knowledge and in-depth details.