This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When covering a big story, reporters usually know more than the information printed in the paper and posted on the website. Unreported details in and of themselves often are not germane to the events in daily coverage. But when seen in a larger context, those little things can shed real light on an issue, or on a person.

Putting it all into a bigger picture, and getting all those facets into a meaningful perspective, is one of the joys of journalism. We do it by stepping back, and producing enterprise pieces that often run in print on the weekends when readers have the time to dive into deep, contextual reporting.

Sometimes you want to do even more. Such is the case with the story of Mia Love.

Last Tuesday, the daughter of Haitian immigrants accomplished what just a few years ago seemed improbable, if not impossible: Mia Love is going to Washington to represent Utah's 4th District, the first black woman from the Republican Party to be elected to Congress. In four years, she has catapulted from the mayor of a small Utah town onto the country's political stage, where, almost overnight, she now stands in a national spotlight.

Within 24 hours of Love's triumph, we published an e-book chronicling her journey. A paper version soon will be available in bookstores and, beginning Sunday, selected excerpts will appear occasionally in The Tribune.

The project is the brainchild of political reporters Thomas Burr and Matt Canham. Burr is our Washington, D.C., correspondent. Canham, now based in our Salt Lake City newsroom, covers politics and the Utah delegation and was based in Washington until earlier this year. Political reporter Robert Gehrke rounds out the team responsible for the book, "Mia Love: The Rise, Stumble and Resurgence of the Next GOP Star."

Canham took the lead in writing the book. Managing Editor Sheila McCann, news editor Dan Harrie and copy editor Catherine Reese Newton got the manuscript ready for prime time.

Reporting Love's political emergence included a trip to suburban Connecticut for interviews with her father and others who knew her as a teenager when her aspirations tilted toward Broadway, not the Beltway. But her story really begins before Love was born, back in impoverished Haiti, where her parents were determined to get their young family away from the murderous Duvalier regimes.

Back in Utah, the plot turns around the night when a group of conservative GOP power brokers shared a pasta dinner and hatched the idea of drafting Love to run for Congress.

The book details an incredible journey. But perhaps its true value is the look behind the curtain of Utah politics. The climax of one chapter is the 2012 state Republican convention, where Love defeats former legislator, and presumptive nominee, Carl Wimmer — a drama full of conflicting agendas, with Utah's GOP heavyweights playing out their roles.

When we embarked on this project, we recognized the risks — Love was no sure bet to win this election. But we knew the reporting would pay dividends no matter what, invaluably informing our post-mortems of the high-profile Utah race of 2014 and adding to our institutional political expertise.

So, why read this book? I'll quote editor McCann: "It's not a puff piece. It's not a hatchet job. It's the work of three terrific journalists."

It's a uniquely Utah narrative, told by three writers who were on the ground, reporting it every step of the way.

What often happens to local reporters on a national story is that an outside publication swoops in, gets the benefit of the reporters' hard work, and then writes the big sky narrative.

Not this time.

Terry Orme is The Tribune's editor and publisher. Reach him at orme@sltrib.com.