Journalists Books - Page 5

Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World

Sarah Vowell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 78 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Funny, well-written, but a bit short... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I became a fan of Sarah Vowell after reading Assassination Vacation, and decided to go back and read her early works. Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World is very good although a bit short. It's also a bit dated, although that's entirely my fault for taking so long to discover Vowell.

Take the Cannoli is a compilation of short stories that mostly deal with the author's life. She writes of being born in Oklahoma and raised in Montana, her twin sister and her parents, her education and her background (she's part Cherokee), her political beliefs and her interest in history, and especially her travels. Many of them are downright funny, and Vowell has a wicked, self-deprecating wit. The chapter on her trying to alter her appearance to become a "Goth" was a scream! I also enjoyed her escapes as a band geek. In high school, Vowell wasn't exactly your average high school student. "I have intimate knowledge of what it was like to be young and uneasy and outraged under Reagan. My high school was 1980s in miniature--you either belonged or you didn't. And if you didn't, you learned to seek relief where you could find it--and for me, that relief was with other black-clad malcontents who could quote defense-spending statistics even though we were barely passing algebra."

Vowell is at her best when she chronicles her travels and two that I enjoyed were her trip to Disney World and her tracing the Cherokee Trail of Tears. While her reflections on her Disney trip were funny, her take on The Trail of Tears poignant, sad and reflective. But even The Trail of Tears is good for a few chuckles, at Vowell's expense. When traveling on a road near her hometown, she relates that "only I know its topography with the intimacy that comes from leaning over every inch of it, carsick. I can't help but wonder if the grass grows so close to the shoulder because of my personal fertilizer crusade: I was a little Lady Bird Johnson of puke."

I wish that Vowell wrote books a little quicker, but in the meantime, I'll have to content myself with reading her earlier works.

Editorial Review:

Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Vowell tackles subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history with a biting humor. She searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.

Straight from the Source: An Expose from the Former Editor in Chief of the Hip-Hop Bible

Kim Osorio

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Kim Osorio had a front-row seat for the biggest beefs, battles, and blow-ups in hip-hop. As the first female editor-in-chief of The Source, she had come up.

From her corner office, Kim got the goods on hip-hop's hottest names: Jay-Z, Nas, 50 Cent, Lil' Kim. She developed close -- sometimes intimate -- relationships with the artists she exposed to the public. But The Source couldn't hide its own dirty laundry for long.

Behind the scenes, the magazine's volatile owners puppeteered every issue -- even coveted honors like the 5-mic album rating and the Power 30 list of industry heavy-hitters. Then The Source declared war on Eminem and began the notorious assault that would send the magazine into swift decline.In a culture dominated by men, Kim rose to the top, and after years in the magazine's pressure cooker, she hit "send" on a two-sentence e-mail that would thrust her from the sidelines of the scandalous world she reported on to the center of one of the most explosive scandals in hip-hop history. Straight From the Source is the Book of Kim, the tell-all memoir only she could write about her influential years at the Bible of Hip-Hop.

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

Peter Godwin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Our Book Club's choice for discussion in April 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Our choice for April was especially meaningful to one of our members who had lived in Africa for over 12 years as a missionary. She was aghast at the author's mother leaving him while she did her medical duties and this was cause for a great discussion both of Africa and the decisions parents, especially mothers, so often have to make. We all thought the beginning chapters were the very best writing, just made us feel as the author had felt growing up. Especially powerful were his writing about wanting to live where it wasn't so dangerous for little boys! Lots of grief in this story, but lots of love, too.

Editorial Review:

Peter Godwin grew up in Rhodesia during the end of white rule. While his Rhodesians Never Die is a historical account of that time, Mukiwa is a more personal narrative--a testament to Africa and a memoir as seen through the eyes of a child becoming a young man amidst civil war. Spanning 1964-1982, from when Godwin was a boy of six in Rhodesia to when he returned to Zimbabwe as a journalist covering the bloody transition back to black rule, Godwin personalizes a difficult era in South African history with clarity, intelligence, humor, empathy, and sharp prose.

The Curse of Lono

Hunter S. Thompson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An unknown classic 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This books is probably the least well-known of HST's books. But it was a very pleasant surprise upon reading it. It is classic Thompson, self-destructive, paranoid, and hilarious. If you take his word for it, you might never visit Hawaii yourself!

Editorial Review:

A wild ride to the dark side of Americana The Curse of Lono is to Hawaii what Fear and Loathing was to Las Vegas: the crazy tales of a journalist's "coverage" of a news event that ends up being a wild ride to the dark side of Americana. Originally published in 1983, Curse features all of the zany, hallucinogenic wordplay and feral artwork for which the Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman duo became known and loved. This curious book, considered an oddity among Hunter's oeuvre, was long out of print, prompting collectors to search high and low for an original copy. TASCHEN's signed, limited edition sold out before the book even hit the stores, but this unlimited version, in a different, smaller format, makes The Curse of Lono accessible to everyone.

In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing

Lee Woodruff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 112 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In January 2006, Lee and Bob Woodruff seemed to have it all–a happy marriage, four beautiful children, and marvelous careers. Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, but then, while he was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee Woodruff’s lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again–and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. More than a dual memoir of love and courage, In an Instant is an important, wise, and inspiring guide to coping with tragedy–and an extraordinary drama of marriage, family, war, and nation.

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“Gripping . . . The Woodruffs’ devotion to each other is palpable. . . . [In an Instant is] a remarkably lucid, even engrossing story of . . . Bob Woodruff’s recovery, interwoven with tales from his marriage and family life.”
–San Jose Mercury News

“Both Woodruffs [shoot] from the hip, writing with candor about their ordeal and describing it with an intimacy that couldn’t be captured on camera. . . . Their frankness heightens the book’s impact.”
–The New York Times

“Extraordinary . . . All sorts of themes thread their way through this frank, inspiring book: courage in the face of adversity; the pursuit of career at the expense of family; the bravery of foreign correspondents; the fortitude of female friendship. . . . Woodruff’s survival story comforts.”
–The Seattle Times

“A testimony to the power of the human spirit, to the catharsis of love and to infinite hope.”
–The Oklahoman

www.bobwoodrufffamilyfund.org

Prohibido decir toda la verdad

Raul Benoit

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Editorial Review:

RAÚL BENOIT: UN DEBER CON LA VERDAD

Por Esperanza Paz

Raúl Benoit, de 47 años, es quizás uno de los periodistas colombianos más controvertidos en la historia de los medios de comunicación de su país. Se hizo conocer internacionalmente, a través de Univisión, por el cubrimiento de noticias en las épocas más difíciles del llamado “narco-terrorismo” y la guerra de guerrillas en Colombia.

Amenazado de muerte y sobreviviente de cuatro atentados, Raúl Benoit relata en su libro “Prohibido decir toda la verdad”, hechos inéditos de su vida personal y periodística, desde su comienzo en la adolescencia, hasta su experiencia como corresponsal de noticias en Colombia de la cadena Univisión, donde en 2008 cumplió 21 años de servicio. Actualmente es reportero investigador del programa Aquí y Ahora y columnista de varios periódicos en español de Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica.

- ¿De qué se trata Prohibido decir toda la verdad?

- Es mi vivencia personal, pero también como reportero en Colombia. En una carta a mis hijos, relato hechos desconocidos y los acontecimientos más relevantes de los últimos 30 años de la historia de mi país. Narro el sufrimiento que viví junto a mi familia, como muchos otros paisanos, por causa de la violencia, el narcotráfico y la guerra de guerrillas.

- ¿Por qué a través de una carta a sus hijos?

- Mi propósito inicial era explicarles sólo a ellos la razón por la cual me dediqué de tiempo completo al periodismo, casi abandonándolos, pero a medida que iba escribiendo la carta descubrí que estaba revelándoles detalles de las noticias de las cuales fui testigo ocular; contándoles hechos noticiosos guardados en mi cerebro por años, que estaban ligados a mi vida personal. Entonces, decidí convertir la carta en relatos novelados para que, además de pedirles perdón por mi descuido, ellos pudieran entender la violencia que vive Colombia. Finalmente supe que, a través de estos relatos a mis hijos, podía darle a conocer al mundo, las sinrazones que rodea la violencia fratricida colombiana prolongada por más de 50 años.

- ¿Qué es lo más impactante de su libro?

- Considero que lo más fuerte es lo que descubro sobre el comienzo del paramilitarismo o autodefensas, las alianzas con el narcotráfico y cómo una unidad de soldados del ejército colombiano se dedicó desde los años ochenta a ejercer justicia y decretar la pena de muerte sin juicio legal, secuestrando, torturando y matando ciudadanos. Por otra parte, descubro la decadencia de la guerrilla comunista y cómo se convirtieron en un cartel de las drogas. También revelo las evidencias sobre la corrupción que está intrínsecamente ligada a todos los problemas de ese país. A medida que pasaban los años fui descubriendo las atrocidades de la guerra y cómo muchos militares, políticos y narcotraficantes patrocinaban la violencia y la prolongaban por codicias personales.

-¿Por qué el título “Prohibido decir toda verdad”?-

- Porque en Colombia y Latinoamérica en general, es prohibido decir toda la verdad. Hay complicidad soterrada y a veces abiertamente descarada para mantener oculta la realidad al pueblo. El libro vence la mentira y pone en evidencia ese triste escenario. Los periodistas tenemos un deber con la verdad.
- ¿Por qué en Colombia fue señalado por algunos colegas como antipatriota?

- Por la misma razón que es prohibida decir toda la verdad. En el libro explico que quienes guardan silencio, encubren la verdad y minimizan el contexto real de las noticias, son los verdaderos antipatriotas de un país.

-¿Cómo recopiló tanta información y entrevistas?-

-Fue una labor de muchos años. Inicialmente utilicé archivos del noticiero donde trabajé en Colombia y posteriormente de Univisión, para reconstruir cronológicamente las historias. Rescaté las pruebas que durante toda mi carrera periodística había guardado. A ciertos personajes que entrevisté en el pasado, los volví a entrevistar e hice investigaciones profundas y detalladas para ratificar las denuncias. Cada reportaje y cada relato son reales y de todo hay pruebas visuales y escritas.
- ¿Cómo logró que el ex presidente colombiano Ernesto Samper le revelara los secretos del “Narcoescándalo”?

- El ex presidente quería deshacerse de pesados secretos y en el momento en que se enteró que yo le dedicaba un capítulo a ese tema, escogió el libro para hacerlo. Deshilvana parte de la madeja de ese misterio en el cual su campaña a la presidencia fue infiltrada por dineros del narcotráfico. Su entrevista es un “bombazo” noticioso. Además, lo confronto con su contradictor, el ex ministro de defensa Fernando Botero Zea, quien también me da una entrevista exclusiva.

- ¿Qué otros develamientos hace?

- Habló de los cuatro atentados contra mi vida y de quiénes pudieron estar detrás de ordenarlos. Relato los detalles de una matanza, la de Tacueyó, un crimen masivo de guerrilleros comunistas, que fue uno de los primeros laboratorios del ejército para entrenar paramilitares. Cuento la historia completa del Cartel de Cali y el Cartel de Medellín y sus alianzas con políticos corruptos.

The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This first volume of the correspondence of Hunter S. Thompson begins with a high school essay and runs up through the publication of Thompson's breakout book, Hell's Angels. Thompson apparently never threw a letter away, so the reader has the treat of experiencing the full evolution of his pyrotechnic writing style, rant by rant. The letters--to girlfriends, to bill collectors, to placers of "Help Wanted" ads, to editors and publishers--are usually spiced with political commentary. The style and the political animus always seem to drive each other. For instance, an 11/22/63 letter to novelist and friend William J. Kennedy about the day's cataclysm is apparently the birthplace of the signal phrase "fear and loathing." (Thompson summed up the Kennedy assassination thus: "The savage nuts have shattered the great myth of American decency.") And the willingness to write strangers is stunning: this collection includes Thompson's letter to LBJ seeking appointment to the governorship of American Samoa. You might have thought Garry Trudeau was exaggerating in his Doonesbury characterization of the Thompson-based character Duke. He was not.

A Writer at War: A Soviet Journalist with the Red Army, 1941-1945

Vasily Grossman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Stalingrad, Kursk, Treblinka and More 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Vasili Semenovich Grossman was a decorated Soviet military journalist best known in the West for his epic novel, Life and Fate (New York Review Books Classics). In 'A Writer at War' editors and translators Anthony Beevor (Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943), an esteemed historian and author in his own right, and Luba Vinogradova, follow Grossman's progression through the war by piecing together stories from his notebooks and writings. At times one would have liked a bit more context to be provided by Beevor, but that is a minor quibble.

Grossman, while still a loyal Communist at this point, managed to maintain a relatively objective viewpoint. He often pushed his editors to allow him to write stories they did not want written, in particular regarding the fate of the Jews in the Ukraine under German occupation and the role of the Ukrainians.

While at time the stories have to be stitched together from bits and pieces, `A Writer at War' is a gold mine and provides a rare view into the inner workings of the Soviet military and Soviet military journalism in particular. Grossman experienced the initial German onslaught and the Russian flight from it, Stalingrad, the tank battle at Kursk, and the death camps. The book includes an extensive article on the workings of the German death camp Treblinka. Earns the highest recommendation.

Editorial Review:

When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, Vasily Grossman became a special correspondent for the Red Star, the Soviet Army's newspaper, and reported from the frontlines of the war. A Writer at War depicts in vivid detail the crushing conditions on the Eastern Front, and the lives and deaths of soldiers and civilians alike. Witnessing some of the most savage fighting of the war, Grossman saw firsthand the repeated early defeats of the Red Army, the brutal street fighting in Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk (the largest tank engagement in history), the defense of Moscow, the battles in Ukraine, the atrocities at Treblinka, and much more.

Antony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova have taken Grossman's raw notebooks, and fashioned them into a gripping narrative providing one of the most even-handed descriptions --at once unflinching and sensitive -- we have ever had of what Grossman called “the ruthless truth of war.”

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska

Heather Lende

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

If You Died There, She'd Write About You 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Though I enjoyed reading about Haines and parts of this author's life, the preoccupation with death throughout this book was overwhelming. Death of relatives, strangers, friends, animals. Accidental death. Death by falling, by weather, by cancer, by boats sinking, by airplanes crashing. Fear of death. Near death. Funerals. Researching and writing obituaries. Anniversaries of loved ones dying. Even when it seems a chapter is going to be about a different subject, within a few pages it seems like death always sneaks in there.

I'd like to see another book by this author, this time devoted to life and living, instead of death and dying.

Editorial Review:

Tiny Haines, Alaska, ninety miles north of Juneau, is accessible mainly by water or air—and only when the weather is good. There’s no traffic light and no mail delivery; people can vanish without a trace; and funerals are community affairs. As both obituary writer and social columnist for the local newspaper, Heather Lende knows better than anyone the goings-on in this breathtakingly beautiful place. Her offbeat chronicle brings us inside her busy life: we meet her husband, Chip, who owns the local hardware store; their five children; and a colorful assortment of friends and offbeat neighbors, including aging hippies, salty fishermen, native Tlingit Indians, Mormon spelunkers . . . as well as the moose, eagles, sea lions, and bears with whom they share this wild and perilous land.

Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate

Kelly Alexander, Cynthia Harris

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The rollicking biography of Clementine Paddleford: “a go- anywhere, taste-anything, ask-everything kind of reporter who traveled more than 50,000 miles a year in search of stories. . . . matched as a regional-food pioneer only by James Beard.” (R. W. Apple , Jr., The New York Times)

In Hometown Appetites, an award-winning food writer and a leading university archivist come together to revive the legacy of the most important food writer you have never heard of. Clementine Paddleford was a Kansas farm girl who grew up to chronicle America’s culinary habits. Her weekly readership at the New York Herald Tribune topped 12 million during the 1950s and 1960s and she earned a salary of $250,000. Yet twenty years after “America’s bestknown food editor” passed away, she had been forgotten— until now.

At a time when few women worked outside the home, Paddleford flew her own Piper Cub to meet her readers and find out what was for dinner. Before Paddleford, newspaper food sections were dull primers on home economy. But she changed all of that, composing her own brand of sassy, unerringly authoritative prose designed to celebrate regional home cooking. Her magnum opus, a book called How America Eats, published in 1960, reveals an appetite for life that was insatiable. This book restores Paddleford’s name where it belongs: in the pantheon alongside those of James Beard and Julia Child. It’s a five-star read in the spirit of national bestsellers such as Heat and The United States of Arugula.