Friday August 10, 2012 Minneapolis Star Tribune journalist Curt Brown appeared on Twin Cities Public Television’s Almanac show in a preview of a six-part Dakota War story set to unfold daily in the Star Tribune, Sunday, August 12 through Friday August 17, 2012.

Leveraging the power of the digital age, the Star Tribune has produced a companion e-book for the series.

Of course, my trusty old Kindle is giving up the ghost. (Everything I try to read is haunted by the image of Mark Twain.) But this is my chance to finally put the free Kindle for PC app on my lap top and read Curt’s book.

In this age of instant gratification, the Strib. is betting readers like me will not want to wait for the next installment when they can pay $2.99 and read the whole thing at once.

Curt was given four months to research and write the series and, as far as I know, he developed this story the journalistic way: reading and interviewing sources –significantly, including some of Little Crow’s descendants –and following up leads to find the story. I can vouch that Curt fact-checked when he realized a statement needed verification –which readers rightly expect.

But there is a tradition in modern journalism that expects reporters to be independent and objective. So newspapers typically don’t ask outsiders to read and fact check a story in its entirety.

That’s quite different from the process a traditionally published book goes through, even for a work released as an e-book, unless it is self-published.

How will journalism read in book form? I need to download that app. and find out.