Books: The Third Journalist

TOWARD A RADICAL MIDDLE by Renata Adler. 259 pages. Random House. $7.95.

The Old Journalism examined the handwriting on the wall. The New Journalism writes on the wall. But there is a Third Journalism whose sole preoccupation is the wall itself—the texture and structure of society. Its practitioners suffer an absence of dazzle, and their egos—like poltergeists—throw no shadow at all. But once a specific event has passed, it is their witness that shows the most significant truths and the fewest signs of age.

Renata Adler is a Third Journalist. "I guess I am...