Journalism is commonly thought of as objective, neutral, and unbiased. However, there was a time when these notions were heavily contested, even by reporters themselves. The American 1950s and 1960s were earth-shattering decades in every major respect: socially, politically, and culturally. Changes in these fields shook the nation and triggered events that, to many people, were extreme to the point they seemed unreal. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Soon, journalists traded their signature style of reporting for a style that read like fiction. They increasingly acknowledged those bizarre times by fictionalizing their works, even producing whole volumes on the events they covered. New journalism was born. Miriam Halfmann explores the main works of the two most luminous figures on the scene: Norman Mailer's The Armies of the Night and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. She contextualizes.