4 comments about Missing Pages: Black Journalists of Modern America: An Oral History.

1. 
   
   
   
   
   Reading, "Missing Pages" by Wallace Terry started with my dad asking me two questions. His first question was. "Son, you want to be an athlete, how many black athletes can you name?" I named a bunch. "Ok. You also want to be a writer. How many black journalists can you name?" I was puzzled and embarrassed, because I'm a freshman in high school and I couldn't name one. My dad suggested I read "Missing Pages"
   
   The book is divided by chapters, with each chapter being a short story on a black journalist. While the book profiles several journalists including: Carl Rowan, Joel Dreyfus, Ben Holman, Tom Johnson, Karen Dewit, James Hicks, William Raspberry, Henry M. "Hank" Brown, Leon Dash, Barbara Reynolds, C. Sumner "Chuck" Stone, Bernard Shaw, Austin Scott, Earl Caldwell, Carole Simpson, Ed Bradley, and Wallace Terry. I chose three to talk about. Those three are Ethel Payne, John Q. Jordan, and Max Robinson. I have chosen these three because they share a certain interest to me.
   
   Ethel Payne, one of the first two black women to cover the White House, worked for the Chicago Defender and later became a columnist there. She was known as the First Lady of the Black Press. She also became the first black commentator for a national TV network when she was hired by NBC in 1972. Her main problem in her journalism career was not her talent, but her skin color. Often, her only support was her confidence in herself. Working in the White House press corps, she was never afraid to ask tough questions. Even with many of her colleagues questioning why she was allowed to work White House, she never wavered in her duties as a reporter. She tells many fascinating stories of her time in Washington, Africa, Vietnam, and behind the news desk at NBC, in her more than 40 years in journalism.
   
   John Jordan, of the Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, was a correspondent in World War 2 who covered black troops in Italy for. John Jordan had actually been drafted into the Marines when his editor decided he wanted Mr. Jordan to replace his current war correspondent in Italy. The newspaper had to pull some strings with the War Department to allow Mr. Jordan to be released from the Marines and join the 5th Army on the front lines in Italy as a reporter. Mr. Jordan tells not only first hand stories of life and death on the front lines, but also of the conditions and racism that black soldiers faced during the war.
   
   Max Robinson was the first black evening network anchorman in America. Mr. Robinson set up his first television audition by answering a "White male only" want ad in a Virginia newspaper. He later became an anchor on ABC's World News Tonight. He also was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. Mr. Robinson tells of career leading up to him being hired by ABC to do the evening news. He also tells many stories of covering major news stories including the Iran Hostage Crisis in which 63 Diplomats were held captive for more than a year inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
   
   This is a fascinating anthology of profiles for anyone. And a must read for those interested in journalism.



2. Missing Pages
   
   The author's voice of Missing Pages has an energy powered by truth which resonates beyond race. Missing Pages enhances the legacy of Wallace Terry, the author of the best selling Bloods (circa 1985) who distinguished himself as a journalist with Time magazine, the Washington Post and Parade magazine. Missing Pages was skillfully completed by Janice Terry, the author's widow and Zalin Grant, his fellow combat journalist that he served with in Vietnam.
   
   Missing Pages rips the mask off of the Fourth Estate which historically abandoned its duty to the people by printing with a discernable bias. As it were, black journalist were either denied positions with the mainstream press or relegated to black on black assignments. During and subsequent to the heyday of the Civil Rights movement things began to change, but on a very small scale.
   
   While attempts were made to restrict assignments of black journalists, their courage, perseverance and genius trumped racism and indifference.
   
   Missing Pages is long overdue. It provides a unique insight into America from those who, to cite the biblical injunction of Isaiah 48:10 were "Not molded in silver but in the furnace of affliction."
   
   The challenge of writing about race requires courage, candor, competence, civility and compassion. One has to deal with injustice, humiliation and other wrongs which often lurk in the subconscious of the objectified. Wallace Terry sets the standard for excellence in his interviews with names familiar to many, Carl Rowan, Max Robinson, Bernard Shaw, Carole Simpson, Chuck Stone, Ed Bradley and others.
   
   Those interviewed such as Chuck Stone, who said the reason there were not more black columnists with white newspapers, is because white America feared black authority. Missing pages also contains the experience of good Samaritans, such as Walter Cronkite, who stopped to help somebody.
   
   Missing Pages is inspirational because is reveals how individuals asserted themselves through persistence, courage, dedication and professional excellence.
   
   Carlos Cardozo Campbell
   Reston, VA



3. The beauty of "Missing Pages" is the 20 civil rights-era African American journalists just talk to interviewer Wallace Terry and capsulize their career stories in a powerful anecdote or two.
   
   I realized that these journalist-heroes were courageous and bold, but gosh, I appreciated them much more when I got more details from them about their challenges.
   
   Like Earl Caldwell pointing out that his landmark reporter-source confidentiality case should not have been merged with two related cases. What distinguished Caldwell's case was he was not involved in illegal activities.
   
   Max Robinson's guts were apparent when the Richmond, Va. native tried out in 1959 for an anchor job along with 30 white men. The competition laughed -- this was the "massive resistance" period in Va. -- yet Robinson won a spot because of his undeniable talent.
   
   I knew about Ethel Payne upsetting President Eisenhower for having the nerve to challenge the commander-in-chief about signing a desegregation order, but I did not know depths of sexism she had to endure within the D.C. press corps.
   
   All of the profiles challenge me to be a better journalist, educator and citizen. I hope "Missing Pages" inspires many more readers.



4. The late Wallace Terry, author of Bloods, the outstanding oral history of black soldiers during the Vietnam War, was working at the time of his death on this equally outstanding oral history of heroic black journalists during some of the most tumultuous times in American history. The stories are truly eye-opening, reminding us of the courage it takes to speak truth to power and of how far America has come because individual blacks had that kind of courage. But the book is about more than journalism, it's about recent history and the struggle to bring this country face to face with its failure to live up to its ideals of justice and freedom. Included, for example, is James Hicks' account of covering the Emmett Till trial in Mississippi, where the sheriff greeted Hicks and his fellow black reporters with a cheerful "how are you nigger doing?" Or Leon Dash's swashbuckling through Angola with Jonas Savimbi's guerrillas. Missing Pages is a must read for anyone with an interest in journalism, public affairs and history.

5 comments about Happy Days Were Here Again: Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist.

1. As a libertarian conservative it is always good to end the day with a reading from Buckley.
   It gives one faith that the Republican Party can again find it's way, accept those "who agree 80%", and cease to attempt to tell others
   how they should lead their lives....



2. This is a fine collection of the thoughts and witticisms of William F Buckley. It covers most any area that Mr. Buckley holds an Interest whether it be politics, social affairs, sailing, classical music and spending time with dignitaries and well to do people. It is fantastically written (as can be expected from Buckley) however it seemed to talk just over the head of the common man. With his infatuation with the Ryder Cup and talking about people who are important to him, really have no impact on my life. All in all it is a very well written fast paced collection. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys political and social commentary. And to anyone who just like to read something different than a novel or text of history.
   
   
   T



3. I have recently read several of Mr W.F. Buckley JR's books and they have all been delightful. Just sorry he's left us.



4. The book came in expected condition. They shipped quickly and did a great job.



5. This is Buckley at his acerbic best on subjects as varied as John Lennon, Ted Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor to academia, Gorbachev and The First Gulf War.

   It's always illuminating and stimulating to explore the brain of one of America's foremost conservative thinkers and as these essays drift more into history, his insights and deliberations become astounding in their perspicacity and accuracy.

   These essays cover everything from the fall of communism, the Los Angeles riots, Playboy magazine and lots more. The time spent reading this delightful paperback is time spent in the company of charming brilliance.

5 comments about Madame Dread: A Tale of Love, Vodou and Civil Strife in Haiti.

1. Readable but overly self-congratulatory. Not much meat on historical events and anti-American bent is irritating. Light and readable but not of lasting value.



2. While written with sincerity, the book is a starry-eyed cliche. A rich white woman falls in love with a poor black man. She glorifies him and his country, while never tackling anything of substance. She makes excuse after excuse for his lack of initiative in his own life, and credits it all to racism. Haiti and its people deserve a more indepth treatment than this frivilous little tale. If you have ever been to Haiti, you will not learn anything here.



3. Haven't had a chance to read yet but have interest in anything about Haiti and Vodou.



4. After reading many of her articles which used poor fact checking and overt reliance on elites - I felt this book was boring even though it was not as overtly bias in its politics as her newspaper writing.



5. I read this book hoping to better understand the constant strife in Haiti. I didn't get the understanding I was looking for. The litany of changing leaders is given, but no real examination of why each one fails is provided. For example, Aristide wins the election and then does not follow up by doing anything to improve conditions. He eventually is driven from power, but no details about his lack of action are provided in this book. A good read, but not what I was hoping for.

5 comments about Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.

1. I received this book gratis for sending a contribution to a non tradtional organization in Vermont. It was a nice gift since Ms Pollett is an interesting lady who writes wonderfully well and has gotten over the feminist's need to shock her reader. At least 60 years old, she has settled in as a devoted mother (perhaps a grand mother by now), seems happily married though, puzzingly, her husbands are pretty much the invisible people in this work...she admits to two, both of whom she speaks fondly if briefly about, an early one long since divorced (the father of her beloved daughter) and her current one (or at least current to the publication of the paperback issue). She spends pages recounting her live in experience with "G", a seemingly successful author and roue who ditched Ms. Pollett for a younger woman (with whom he had been carrying on an afair all the time he lived with Ms. P, the cad!)I guess the intense flame tha burnt out is always more memorable than the traditional fire that endures.
   Buy a copy and spend an nice night with a quirky New York lady who will keep you interested.
   JDP, East Hampton, New York



2. I went into Learning to Drive as a fan of KP's essays in The Nation and remain so. The author's keen wit in there front and center. Some of the reviews tried to put across that she was some kind of a loon for cyberstalking the ex-boyfriend. But it wasn't just that he walked out--he seems to have been living a bizarre double life, which included intimacy with women they both knew. I think KP's post-breakup "research" was just her way of trying to process a deeply weird scenario. Yes, we'd all like to think we'd be above it but miles & mocassins, &c. Anyway, the bad breakup is only a small part of this book, and it's always a delight to read KP holding forth on politics, culture, and the infinite number of ways Americans can be hypocritical on the subject of women's roles from daughters to wives to mothers.



3. It's hard to know in whom I am more disappointed, in Random House for publishing "Learning to Drive," Ms. Pollitt for writing it, or me for buying it. I bought this book with the expectation that I would learn something about women, a class of persons, as a heterosexual male, I have dealt with extensively and seem to have lacked a great deal of understanding of for many years.
   
   Instead what I encountered was superficiality, vindictiveness, incoherence and hypocrisy.
   
   The book starts out with a promising metaphor. ppp, portrayed as a well-meaning but rather bumbling person, is being taught to drive by a patient, knowledgeable soul. In a parallel way, the reader might think, ppp in writing this book is going to teach us in a patient, knowledgeable way, about the soul of women.
   
   But no. Instead we are treated to the most banal of stories, the forsaken lover who hurls the venom of her disappointment hither and thither, strangely much more so at a woman friend she calls Judas, pardon, I mean Judith, than at the man she believes betrayed her, whom she labels "G" (given that G is the only person in the book who gets a capital letter instead of a name, one must wonder what other capital G entity she may have been thinking of when she so designated him).
   
   The book then proceeds to wander all over the map, the opening metaphor and original romantic betrayal seemingly forgotten. Meanwhile we get sparkling insights into male-female relationships such as this: when G left her he told her he was going to live alone. But a friend of hers told her that was a lie because men can't stand to live alone for more than 10 minutes. And in fact it turned out he had left her for a younger woman! So there you are. The friend said it and her prediction turned out to be correct. What more proof could you want that men are just that way.
   
   Beyond her superficial observations, ppp oozes hypocrisy. As noted here is a putative feminist who blames the woman in the quadrangle she describes but not the man who betrayed her. At one point, she even in effect forgives G for leaving her for a younger woman because after all if it's available why not take it. But her claws are out razor sharp for Judith who did just that with G.
   
   Here's another strange thing: in the opening pages of this book, Ms. Pollitt per the title is, in the present tense, learning to drive. But about 150 pages later she is blithely discussing how she used to drive to her home in Connecticut apparently from New York - no mean trick for someone who later has to learn to drive. Thus the whole premise of the book seems to built on a fiction or a distortion. Very inspirational.
   
   Here's my recommendation: Don't buy the book. Better to spend your time and money on As the World Turns re-runs. At least dumb there is the expectation.



4. Katha Pollitt is perceptive and funny, and describes some of the issues women have these days. I like her humor, and good writing, and highly recommend the essays in Learning to Drive.



5. As a general rule I have found that books that consist of previously published columns and suchlike material bundled together to make a book usually aren't all that good; that they tend to be a "greatest hits" compendium of the author's (supposedly) best work in the opinion of some publishing house book editor. Pollitt's book Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories is the rare exception to my rule.
   
   Learning to Drive is a coherent and tenderly personal progress report of Pollitt's private life and growth as culled from assorted columns published in the Nation and the New Yorker magazines. As someone or other once famously said: "The personal is the political." And Pollitt goes on to show exactly how true that observation really is.
   The "personal is political" meme therefore says that our personal lives are in considerable part politically delimited and determined so that improving our personal lives means we must collectively address our lives and relationships in political terms.
   
   The choices we make personally have political implications. Obviously the choice to be an activist or not or to support this or that political project has political implications even though it is personally undertaken. But as Pollitt shows, so do our most personal relationships. All the choices we make, even the ones that seem totally apolitical and personal, have political implications. The choice to wear make-up or not, to watch TV or not, to eat this or that or not, to wear this or that item of clothing, to use a bank or not, or as in Pollitt's case, whether to put up with an obviously unfaithful boyfriend, is a personal choice, but it is also a political one.
   
   Pollitt's mini-memoir is also replete with refreshing and honest insights about the limits of ideological purity when one's chosen ideology founders in real life practice. One of the best ongoing themes in this work is the story of her parents and especially Pollitt's father, who although a dedicated card-carrying member of the Communist Party, gives up the famous line from Stalin about having to `break eggs to make an omelet', that (paraphrasing from memory here), "I saw a lot of broken eggs, but never any omelets." Pollitt observes that her father never gave up his Marxist ideology, but he could honestly admit to its failures and shortcomings. That observation is quite Orwellian and in the most positive and affirming of ways, too. As in the way that Orwell, as a man of the Left, had no compunctions about saying what he really thought or saw, regardless of his chosen ideological leanings.
   
   Katha Pollitt's book succeeds in much the same way; she never renounces her political views, but she isn't blindly trying to superimpose ideology in place of reality by trying to call a circle a square, either.

5 comments about Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II.

1. Read the description more carefully than I did. It is NOT "Ernie's War," which is a tremendous collection of Pyle's work. This is a mediocre biography. Do not waste time on this till you read Pyle's own work.



2. This moving book examines journalist Ernie Pyle (1900-1945), widely considered the top U.S. correspondent during World War II. An established newsman with the Washington Daily News, Pyle headed to North Africa with the U.S. forces in 1942. Pyle shared the risks, hardships, and comraderie of the ordinary soldiers of whom he wrote. His dispatches from Tunisia, then Italy, then Normandy and France, capture the mood, mud, and fears that were the existence of many front-line GI's (although his descriptions of the war's horrors might have been even more graphic). Ernie's stories about dodging Nazi snipers and artilery shells from the hedgerows and foxholes make chilling reading today, and left a toll on Ernie as it did on many GI's. This humane newsman quickly became the pal of common soldiers, not to mention the most widely-followed war correspondent back home. After returning to the U.S. to calm his nerves, Pyle moved on to the Pacific in the last year of the war. His heart was more with the boys in Europe, as he found GI life in the navy and on the Marshall Islands (after they were secured) significantly softer. Of course, such was not always the case in the Pacific, particularly not at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, nor Okinawa, where Pyle was killed by a sniper during that horrid struggle.
   
   Author James Tobin also describes Ernie Pyle the man. Pyle was from rural Indiana, attended Indiana University, then became a newspaperman in the early 1920's. He became fairly well-known nationally during the late 1930's as a roving national columnist for Scripps-Howard. Pyle suffered from depression and other health issues (as did his wife), and he was away from home for long stretches. Perhaps these struggles made him more empathetic to common soldiers at the front.
   
   This book is seldom joyous but makes for a powerful read. As a kid my dad showed me his 1945 photo of Pyle's grave - his unit arrived at Ie Shima/Okinawa after Pyle was killed, but his heartfelt description of Pyle showed the connection ordinary GI's felt for the man.



3. This book is not exactly what my husband wanted, but I am enjoying it. He likes to read true stories about the war and we didn't know this is more about Ernie's life than it is about the war. It is a very interesting book to me and I am glad we bought it.



4. This is the story of an unpretentious, self effacing, little newspaper man, who once described himself as a "slightly used second hand man;" a man who through dedication, common sense, and a love for his fellow man and "the God-damned infantry," as they liked to call themselves, went on to become the pre-eminent war correspondent of World War II and likely of any other war -- past, present, or future. But, Ernie Pyle was much more than that. As the war wore on, Ernie, through his thoughtful and heart-felt reports from the European war zone became America's "everyman," a little fellow, who could be your next door neighbor, caught up in the events of war. Many of his readers came to see him more as a friend than as a reporter and, as America's situation improved, became more concerned about Ernie than they were about how the war itself was going.
   
   Once known for his somewhat mundane traveling adventures, a column which he wrote for seven years prior to the war for the Scripps-Howard Newspaper chain, Pyle's reports from North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and eventually broader Europe took on a life of their own. His column spread to other papers and to a much broader readership. But this new found fame, and the prospect of fortune, never went to Ernie's head. He said that he was too old, he was in his forties, had been a reporter too long, twenty years, and had seen too much of the war to be impressed with such things. It seemed funny to him that he should be considering a deal worth $150,000 while soldiers were dying all around him on the battlefields of Europe for only $50 a month. Ernie didn't expect to live to see war's end anyway.
   
   There was only one Ernie Pyle and it is unlikely that there will ever be another, for in his writings he caught the essence of the young men who were fighting and dying in war. His readers got to see what they saw, feel what they felt, and know what they hoped and dreamed of. And it was through his reports that the American people caught a glimpse of World War II and what their sons were going through.
   
   This is a remarkably good book about a remarkable man; well researched and well told. In it, you will get meet the real Ernie Pyle and read some of the writings which won him praise and eventually the Pulitzer Prize. Among them are four of his finest: A Forward Airdrome in French North Africa (pg. 71); In the shadow of the low stone wall (pg. 133); Now to the infantry (pg. 262); and A Pure Miracle (pg. 271).



5. This is a fascinating book, and this from a reader more into fiction than historical biography - but the best fiction writer would be hard pressed to come up with a character like Ernie Pyle.
   
   A page turning look into World War II from someone who could have been your neighbor but was far more than what you would have expected.
   
   I have no idea why a modern rendition of this story has not hit the big screen - it seems a natural, captivating story that would educate as well as entertain.

5 comments about Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby (New York Review Books Classics).

1. I am not sure how I feel about this account of a sure to have been forgotten soul if not for minor mention in Malcolm Cowley's Exiles Return...and in the very well done Biography by Geoffrey Wolff, which I am much late to read after being directed by the Boston Globe to take a look some Sundays ago.
   
   All in all the interesting part of this story is in the tortured soul of a young man who seems to have lost his way to conventional wisdom, but in reality may have been in direct line with his destiny. His persistent commitment to living every day to the fullest, loving and learning through excess with the knowledge of zero accountability given his imminent death at his own hand is captivating to those who could not possibly live this type of life. Scandalous for the time or any time.
   
   Well done Mr. Wolff, my apologies for the late to the party read.



2. Perhaps were I around in the 1920's, I would have come under Harry Crosby's spell and considered him an amazing man. Reading this, however, brings one to opposite conclusions. If anything, he comes across as spoiled, petulant, untalented, and psychotic. I fear that this may sway many reviewers' opinion of the book, but I separate biography from subject here and credit Wolff with writing a thorough and satisfying life. If you have any interest in Paris in the 1920's, the Lost Generation, and cameos by a whole raft of interesting players (Archibald MacLeish, Ernest Hemingway, Kay Boyle, etc.), this is worth a go. One thing's for sure: it not only ends, but begins, with a bang.



3. Geoffrey Wolff is among the most underappreciated novelists writing in English. His biography of his father The Duke of Deception is enthralling. This early biography is not quite up to these standards, is too opiniated, and could used some editing. Nonetheless it shows his flair. It is also full of references to Paris and the famous expatriates of the 20s. Be careful to get a copy without a crumpled back page.



4. No one thus far seems to recognize the obvious fact that Harry Crosby is a classic example of post-traumatic stress syndrome. He volunteered as an ambulance driver in World War I, and that harrowing experience smashed his mind, as similar experiences have mentally crushed so many other brave people who volunteered for war duty instead of staying complacently at home.
   
   Harry's life after the war is thus not a merely decadent and self-indulgent romp, but an ongoing struggle to regain some kind of mental equilibrium after seeing hundreds of men turned into slabs of bleeding meat in a gigantic and futile butchery. At one point a shell struck his ambulance and blew it apart. It's almost imporrible to survive that kind of experience without serious mental damage.
   
   The attitude of the author is judgemental in a naive, Midwestern way to the point of unintentional hilarity. The endless gasps of shock from the naive and outraged author are better than Saturday Night Live. Gasp! Harry actually dares to wear a black flower to his father's dinner party! Great heavens, what would Aunt Gertrude think? Shocked! I'm so terribly shocked! I do believe that I'm going to faint!
   
   On and on it goes, and I'm amazed that the naive author, or should say the faux-naive author, survives the hypocrisy of his endless denunciations of the roaring 1920's and those who roared while the roaring was good.
   
   So the author wouldn't have written about Harry Crosby unless he had the suicide at the end? Suppose that Harry had survived into a pleasant and prosperous old age? That no doubt would have been intolerable to our censorious author, who is determined to rewrite the Portrait of Dorian Gray, but unhappily without Oscar Wilde's genius.
   
   It's a real shame that this seems to be the only extensive biography of Harry Crosby. It's a guilty pleasure to read this endless pseudo-moralistic trashing of Harry's interesting life. If the smugly righteous author had suffered through the same kinds of wartime horrors that Harry endured, the silly bloke would have been institutionalized for the rest of his life, and we wouldn't be victimized by this hymn of hate toward a man whom the author so transparently envies. A tame lap dog is writing the biography of a lone wolf, and it just doesn't click.



5. Are there no more editors? This book is repetitive, much too long, and the organization is confusing. I am never convinced Harry Crosby is worth the time to read his story. As I read, I kept thinking, "Why bother?" Harry's life might be interesting as an example of supreme self-indulgence and self-absorption, but his writing (as quoted) is atrocious! Tighten it up, tell me more about Black Sun Press and some good writers, and less about Harry's decadence-unless you can make it more interesting than this!

5 comments about Times of My Life and My Life with the Times.

1. Encountering the first chapters about Frankel's childhood and escape from Nazi Germany, I frowned and thought, do I really want to know this? But his account of those early years was riveting and shaped his approach to news. Frankel takes you through the tumultuous decades that comprised his career, sharing anecdotes about world leaders while illuminating the forces that compete to determine what is newsworthy. This is one of those books that's hard to put down. Frankel is a gifted writer, all the more impressive considering he learned English after coming to this country. I can't wait to read another of his books.



2. I enjoyed the Max Frankel story on many levels. The story of the family escape from Nazi Germany was riviting and worthing of an entire book. The balance of the book was not riviting, but was nevertheless interesting and entertaining. I might not have finised the book except that it is exceptionally well written (I guess that that should not be a surprise considering the source!). In many places in reads all most like poetry. Word choices were very excellent without getting cute.



3. This book begins in Germany, where the author was born in 1930. The account of how he and his parents got out of Hitler's grasp is vivid and breathtaking, and alone is worth the price of the book. Then his account of growing up in New York, his education in high school and college, and how he became connected with the New York Times is of sustaining interest, as is his account of his career there. I thought it equally as good as Katherine Graham's Pulitzer-prize-winning account of her career, and all it told of the Washington Post.



4. The first part of the book dealing with the author and his mother's travails in pre-WWII Germany in Weissenfels was absolutely the best part of the book. (And, this was unexpected as I bought the book to read about the editor of my favorite newspaper.) The author puts a human face to his German friends, neighbors, towns people, local officials, and even the Nazi that finally gave the exit visa to Frau Frankel and her son, Max. Even after the war and the Holocaust, Frankel admits he maintained some empathy with the ordinary German folk. I found this perspective to be refreshing and enlightening as it seemed more realistic of the German peoples and their behavior in pre-War Germany. (I do not wish to politicize my book review, please read the book to get your own opinion on this matter-- although one does have to remember Frankel's experiences were that of a young boy). In fact, most of the book was written in a honest, straight-forward manner. The authos's candor was a surprise on many topics including those of race. It is always refreshing to read an honest appraisal rather than the double talk you hear from politician-types.

   The remainder of the book amazed me that Max Frankel lived through and was involved in many of the historic events that occurred during the Cold War. Although at times Frankel seemed to explain in hindsight his prescience at events about to occur on the world stage. (As aside, you wonder why you didn't have people like him working for the CIA).

   An aspect of the book that I didn't enjoy was the author's apologetic tone in explaining his executive decisions while an editor at the NY Times. It seemed this portion of the autobiography was aimed at the co-workers and people at NY Times that Frankel had worked with.

   Definately, the parts of the book talking about the author's personal experiences, whether in Germany, Washington Heights, or the tragic illness of his wife were captivating. The rest about his career seemed routine.




5. The essential story of Mr. Frankel's extraordinary memoir has been amply described in the reviews on this site, and requires no further repetition by me. I urge everyone to read them, and of course to read the book.

   Hardly anyone can fail to be moved by the prelude to his story, his family's escape from the Nazis. Mr. Frankel's mother perhaps deserves at the least a book of her own story. A remarkable woman.

   Mr Frankel's story might be of another brilliant journalist whose professional story alone is worth the telling, and it is. But for me, it is his almost brutal, scalpel-like self-dissecting to reveal to us his inner turmoil in meeting challenges of his life-style and career that riveted me to the book.

   Early in life, he tells us, he learned to always prepare an escape route, another way out. Repeatedly, he recounts many brushes with conflict where he seemed to side-step adversity, to protect himself from pain, to indeed take another way out. Courageous and wise, or cowardly and untrustworthy as a human being? He so presents himself to us for our judgement. He accurately points out how news media (persons) suffer the worst of narcissist sensitity at criticism, yet he stands up bravely, I think, lead on by his personal and professional vision while living in a fish bowl.

   How many of us as private people, or world renown persons could stand so tall? I thank Mr Frankel for forty years of helping to educate me, and the rest of us to boot.

   Irwin Moss, LA mooseman01@aol.com PS. Candor requires me to reveal playing tennis once with Mr. Frankel at Cape Cod many years ago. One learns and reveals much in a tennis game.

5 comments about Fear and Loathing: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Hunter S. Thompson.

1. I bought this because I am a rabid HST fan and although I knew most of the events in the book, I was surprised that he sometimes physically abused the women in his life. Hunter was from a totally different planet. If you want to scarf everything down by HST, I'd buy it!



2. I don't remember where I got this book from but it was during a time when I was absorbing as much gonzo journalism as possible. This biography of H.S.T. is well written and would be perfect if one were looking for a balanced profile of the enigma that was Hunter S. Thompson but unfortunately I had just read The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 which is a collection of letters he wrote. I thought that the letters, which are addressed to everyone from his mother and girlfriends to bill collectors and colleagues, painted a much better picture of H.S.T.'s early life and times. It also gives so much more insight into Thompson's mind that after reading it I didn't feel the need to read another bio. If you have to choose one I wouldn't recommend reading this biography.



3. Well, I really enjoyed this biography of the Gonzo Master, but I have to warn potential readers that the work was written in 1994 and was then reissued in 2004. It's narrative ends shortly after 1990, and, had I known this beforehand, I would not have bought the book. This was a bit of a disappointment because the later years of his life are deservant of full chapter treatment--and then some. His suicide is a mystery that cannot be illuminated here so be forewarned. As far as Perry is concerned, the author's perspective is outstanding as he clarifies much of Thompson's enigmatic personality. The sources he selects are also very enlightening. This Fear and Loathing, just like the original, was wonderful, but Perry's tale is not definitive unfortunately.



4. A piece of history... not unforgotten. Details very well documented. Impressive and an amazing writer. Looking forward to the next one.



5. This is a fun book, no doubt about it. Granted, it's not Hunter Thompson writing, it's his life story, but it's certainly worth reading up on. The story is really fascinating and I will probably read it again before too long.
   
   I originally bought this book out of necessity, I had to write a mammoth paper on The Good Doctor back in May and was short of sources. This was the best-looking book that I could find on Amazon, and I wasn't dissapointed by the package I recieved, just in the nick of time to read and then write my paper. Without this book, I would have been in trouble. Thank you Mr. Perry for writing this book and thank you Mr. Thompson for the life it documented. RIP Hunter.

5 comments about Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst.

1. Should be a movie. The real workings of one of America's most controversial millionaires. "Citizen Kane" had nothing on William Randolph Hearst. In many ways scandulous. Using his power behind the pen, a powerful newspaper mogul that made America believe, just about anything he saw fit. Even fabricating cause for war against Spain! But the affairs and failed attempts at the presidency of the United States, along with an ever growing crowd of Hollywood celebrities, will guarantee your turning page-after-page of reading.
   
   A visit to his spectacular San Simeon castle several years ago, sparked my interest in wanting to read this book.



2. I got this book while visiting the Hearst castle which I felt to be so beyond ostentatious as to be offensive. And, truth be told, I read it over months. Not that it was bad. In fact the book was delightful. But there is so much to read about and Hearst is so, well, unimportant!
   
   I have felt for many years--ever more so after visiting the castle--that William Randolph Hearst was the US equivalent of Joseph Stalin. He had more power than he knew what to do with, more control than was reasonable, and less integrity than most. The book didn't surprise me much. If a reader is well informed on, say the Spanish American war, s/he wouldn't be surprised at the quote from Hearst that, you provide me with the photos and I'll provide you with the war. (To that effect).
   
   He was a mass of contradictions. He paid his staff well, better than the other newspapers, but he was also ruthless with critics and opponents. The author stresses that frequently, especially in the last chapter (where, for a second, I thought I was reading a treatise on Hearst's integrity. On the contrary, Swanberg denies that integrity.) But that "compassion" that Hearst seemed to express was to those who played the game according to Heart's rules. And that's the key trait of a hard-core narcissist!
   
   There was perhaps a little less stress on the sensationalist nature of the Hearst press in the text. (And, unfortunately, its low-brow nature I think has affected the nature of American media to this day!) But I don't want to downgrade the text any points as I may have gotten caught up in other details and lost track of that which almost goes without saying.
   
   While I tend to be cynical of the American electorate, the book suggests some items that redeem us: Hearst had run for office (I think he was elected to the House for one term) but he had his eye on the presidency. Not only was he not nominated or elected, but, as the author points out toward the end of the book, to be endorsed by Hearst was almost the political kiss of death. Candidates whom Hearst endorsed were almost sure to lose!
   
   And his self-service also affected his politics: He was ostensibly the candidate of "the little guy" earlier on, but once he reached wealth beyond belief, he was adamantly opposed to things like income tax--while he had supported the concept earlier!
   
   If I have a negative comment on the book, it may be, I confess, due to my preconceptions of Hearst: the author refers periodically (not obsessively) to Hearst as a "genius" because of his business expertise, etc. Well, I contend that if many people had the resources Hearst had, they could "make it" and be proclaimed genius too. Indeed, I'm amazed at Hearst's spending habits. Even deep into the Great Depression, if Hearst saw something he wanted, whether worth $50,000 or $14 million, he got it. And he got it again, for himself, for Miss Davies, his mistress, for his friends (those, again, who played his game). He finally, when things started looking pretty bad, had to sell a few castles and assorted other ostentations.
   
   When the economy came around, he took off again. Big deal. He still had virtually unlimited resources at his disposal so referring to Hearst as a "genius" gives him more credit than he deserves.
   
   The book was full of detail, and there were footnotes on nearly every page lending credibility to the detail.
   
   If you're into Hearst--either love or hate him--I recommend the book. But keep a few things in mind, e.g., Heart's incredible narcissism, and how he virtually destroyed Orson Welles after the release of "Citizen Kane," quite obviously a critique of Hearst. Of course, I can understand why Hearst may have been offended by it, but he had an inordinate amount of power by nature of his wealth and his ability to INFLUENCE through his senstationalist, low brow media. And that's unforgiveable.



3. William Randolph Hearst, an only child, was born at the time of the Civil War to a successful gold and silver prospector and a former school teacher. His mother had thwarted cultural ambitions and poured all her energy into raising her son. He was a victim of a drastic amount of spoiling, creating an emotionally unsatisfactory human being. All three Hearsts possessed physical vitality.
   
   His father bought the San Francisco Examiner to settle a debt. William's interest in newspapering began with his service on the Harvard Lampoon. He persuaded his father to let him take over the Examiner. The newspaper embraced the gee-whiz emotion. Hearst wooed the masses, not the rich. He surrounded himself with eccentrics including Ambrose Bierce and Joaquin Miller. The newspaper attacked Huntington and the Southern Pacific Railroad.
   
   To staff his New York paper, the Journal, Hearst raided the Pulitzer paper. Hearst had the capacity to offer enormous salaries since his mother had sold her interest in the Anaconda Mine and given him the proceeds. In the presidential election Hearst opted to fight for William Jennings Bryan whom the Wall Street interests hated.
   
   Richard Harding Davis and Samuel Remington, an artist, were sent to Cuba. Remington complained of boredom. Hearst told him to send the pictures and Hearst would furnish the war. Stephen Crane and others covered the Greco-Turkish War.
   
   Newspaper jingoism is evidenced in the Hearst coverage of the Maine disaster. The public was deceived, misled, tricked. Hearst had a fixation about circulation, believing that advertising dollars would follow.
   
   The man was a mass of contradictions. His colossal egocentricity put him at one remove from others. Lincoln Steffens interviewed him five times to penetrate the mystery of his character. He was incurably romantic. Hearst was hobbled by his journalistic recklessness, political unintelligibility, and personal eccentricities in his path through life.
   
   The book, a life and times treatment, is filled with colorful personalities and events.



4. Everything I knew about William Randolph Hearst I learned from the movie CITIZEN KANE. So when I found a cheap, second-hand copy of CITIZEN HEARST, I decided to pick it up and educate myself. Not only was this informative, but highly entertaining. A man capable of rousing such fiercely diametric emotions from people reading his biography decades after his death must surely have raised the ire of his contemporaries something fierce. It is with very mixed emotions that the modern reader comes to understand the events of Heart's life, but those feelings probably aren't a million miles away from what was felt at the time. While reading this biography I kept leaping between admiration and loathing for the subject -- an experience I've never quite had before.
   
   My copy of CITIZEN HEARST is over six hundred pages and written in a smaller than average font size. Yet, as the biographer points out, with the sheer amount of stuff that Hearst accomplished (or at least attempted) in his life, it would be easy to dedicate an entire volume just to single individual activities. But, W. A. Swanberg does a great job of summarizing the main details of Hearst's life without being overly superficial. I even enjoyed the opening sections, dealing with William Randolph Heart's childhood. Many times in biographies, this ends up being a list of dates, schools and relatives; yet Swanberg defies the norm and gives the child Hearst an interesting story.
   
   Of course, the main account is everything that Hearst did after his early-twenties, when he took a fancy towards the journalistic world and obtained a newspaper from his wealthy father. Hearst's subsequent ideas of journalism, his later political ambitions (he fixed his sights on the White House, but never did get higher than the United States House of Representatives), and his obsessive collection of art and property are all laid out meticulously and clearly.
   
   And the information imparted is absolutely unbelievably fascinating. We think the media is pretty bad today, but after reading this I realize that the today's Ted Turners and Rupert Murdochs have absolutely nothing on the yellow journalism of that era. Organizing divisions of reporters to arrive at the scene of a crime before the police do or staging an elaborate midnight rescue of a Cuban "princess" from the Spanish army -- can we really imagine Bill O'Reilly or Aaron Brown attempting those ratings stunts?
   
   In addition to detailing Heart's business and political aspirations, Swanberg also delves into an aspect of Heart's life that was brilliantly captured in Orson Welles' portrayal of Charles Foster Kane (the thinly veiled fictionalized version of Heart himself). Just as Welles' character was a ruthless and ambition man, who is also shown happily spending hours using silly shadow puppets to entertain a sad, lonely girl, Swanberg introduces us to a serious, focused, cutthroat and dangerous man who was exceedingly soft-spoken, kind on a personal level and who would easily break into goofy vaudeville-style dances to amuse his friends.
   
   This biography not only informed me, but also got me curious on a variety of related subjects that I intend to study further. I knew almost nothing, for example, about Hearst's intervention in the lead up to the Spanish-American War (Swanberg practically gives him sole credit for the entire enterprise). Now, I'm dying to read more about it.
   
   This is definitely one of the best biographies I've read, though certainly not about one of the best people. Based on the information provided, Hearst was an impossible man to pin down and understand. Swanberg posits a metaphor of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hearst could be one man around some people, the other in different circumstances. In any case, this biography would appear to be an almost impossible task, and yet Swanberg has done a yeoman's service. I'd recommend this even to someone with no interest in the area because the writing and the subject are just too compelling.



5. It isn't often that one reads a well-respected, full-length biography of a prominent American personality, only to put the book down with a newfound, passionate and complete disgust for the central character. That is how W.A. Swanberg's 1961 classic "Citizen Hearst" made me feel about William Randolph Hearst. I can say that about no other biography I've ever read.

   Indeed, the derogatory adjectives that apply directly to William Randolph Hearst are virtually inexhaustible: irresponsible, pampered, egotistical, hypocritical, lascivious, presumptuous, adulterous, rapacious, etc. One searches in vain for admirable or redeeming qualities in Hearst. Even supposed acts of benevolence and charity - which usually centered on the one thing that meant nothing to him, money - always seem to smack of insincerity and self-interest. None of this, of course, is meant to detract from Swanberg's phenomenal account of the publisher's life, which is truly engrossing and highly recommended by this reader.

   Hearst was born in the lap of luxury and never knew the value of a dollar earned by a day's work, yet for over half-a-century he fashioned himself the defender of the common man and was a leading voice in Progressive politics. Far from creating a profitable media empire, Hearst's newspapers lost money at a staggering rate for well over a decade (Swanberg's account is frustrating in that he never clarifies exactly when Hearst's efforts turned profitable). The simple secret of Heart's success was that his deceased father's mines could churn out precious metal at a faster pace than he could squander the profits on his newspapers and chasing the chimera of the presidency. He took a mistress half his age when he was in his fifties and married with five children, and devoted all his immense energy and resources into making her the biggest film star in the world, despite her rather limited talent. An early hero to the radical left, in old age he reversed course and emerged as one of the earliest and most virulent anti-communists and opponents of the progressive income tax - a measure he once championed.

   Swanberg delivers this amazing life in an extremely fluid and engaging - indeed, exciting - narrative. He notes that people have never been able to adequately explain William Randolph Hearst. The instinct was - and still is - to use the world "great" when describing him, but great in what way? Swanberg offers up his own conclusion: Hearst was the greatest loser of his generation. Not exactly a flattering assessment, but nonetheless a very accurate one. In the end, Hearst failed in business, in politics, in marriage, and in the movie business. For better or worse, he left an indelible stamp on the American experience, and for that he should be remembered, if not exactly revered.

5 comments about Margaret Fuller, Wandering Pilgrim.

1. As acknowledged by the author, I was involved in the early going, but years later, now that I can sit down with Meg Murray's Fuller biography, I am thrilled. Very few books about literary giants do justice to the narrative. It either seems cooked or perhaps worse lumpy and raw. Murry's story is riveting. I recently needed stories about the Tiber Island hospital where Fuller served as a nurse during the Roman seige and found Murray's account very worth quoting. This is a superb work of scholarship AND a compelling story about one of America's most neglected giants.



2. Wandering Pilgrim is an excellent study of one of America's most important and neglected literary figures. Murray writes of Margaret Fuller with compassion, complexity and professionalism. Her account of Fuller -- a bold and brilliant woman who enthralled both Emerson and Hawthorne, who used her as a model for Hester Prynne - is a lively and original reading of this memorable woman.



3. Margaret Fuller for Everyone
   
   Margaret Fuller, Wandering Pilgrim manages to be both a page-turning
   read and a richly dense one. The clear narrative will please and
   inform readers who know little about Fuller, a fascinating nineteenth-
   century author and thinker; at the same time, Murray's extensive
   research and careful analysis will be invaluable to scholars of both
   American literature and women's studies. The book balances
   psychological, historical, and literary background in a wonderfully
   successful attempt to explain the life and achievements of the complex
   woman who made a pioneering case for American women in her classic
   Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845). Even as Murray astutely
   prepares us for the ending of Fuller's life, we keep reading to find
   out both what will happen, and why.



4. Murray's study of the 19th century American feminist author and intellectual Margaret Fuller ,a creative,richly talented,conflicted, even bedeviled New England Romantic, is nothing short of brilliant. Murray weaves into the warp and woof of her complex Fuller tapestry a blend of criticism, history, literature, psychology, religion and theology, which together yield a finely nuanced picture of a brilliant but profoundly troubled woman who struggled valiantly though unsuccessfully to break free from the constaints of her strict puritanical upbringing and the oppression of a domineering father. Some may wonder whether anything worthwhile can be added to our understanding of Margaret Fuller after the publication of Prof. Capper's second volume. The answer: an emphatic "Yes". Murray's "Wandering Pilgrim" deserves a distinguished place alongside Capper's and the best of the other scholarly volumes on Fuller. A long time birthing, it should stand well the test of time. Murray's controversial interpretation of Fuller will not win acceptance by all Fuller scholars, but they can ill afford to ignore her. Her provocative biography is a must-read .



5. Murray analyzes Margaret Fuller's achievements as "America's first full-fledged intellectual woman," from child prodigy to crusading journalist to revolutionary agent in Italy, always struggling to make sense of the world around her and her own divided nature. Careful consideration of this Romantic woman writer's "gender / sex identity crisis" makes the book an original contribution to Fuller scholarship and brings us as readers face to face with a conflicted soul, never able to resolve all the contradictions of her mind and body. I recommend this biography to anyone with a serious interest in women's and gender studies.