Lessons In Persuasion : Creative Nonfiction/Pittsburgh Connections

Pittsburgh has always been-despite its industrial reputation-a great city in which to be a writer. Its active, close-knit writing community has seen the rise of several luminaries with Pittsburgh connections, such as Annie Dillard and Stewart O\u2019Nan, and the caliber of Pittsburgh\u2019s writing community today is better than ever. Lee Gutkind has assembled a reunion of sorts with writers from across the nation, as well as the up-and-coming stars on the local scene-each of whom has a Pittsburgh connection. Many grew up in the region, others attended college here: all of them have an association with the city. The resulting collection of essays is both gentle and jarring, eclectic and persuasive, covering a range of topics-from a stripper\u2019s work ethic to West Virginia\u2019s famed Matewan shootout, Atlantic City\u2019s Boardwalk before Donald Trump, and the uses of poetry to better understand one\u2019s own life. Although Pittsburgh is not the subject of most of the essays, these writers are bound by their affinity for the written word and their collective fondness for Pittsburgh.