Newspapers Books

In this timely handbook, Christopher Browne (he is the SOLE author) gives a clear, upbeat and eminently readable account of the skills needed to become a journalist. A British journalist and broadcaster, Browne's light, hands-on approach makes a refreshing change from the dry, theoretical textbooks written by 'experts' in specialist fields. Though perhaps this is not surprising for a writer used to the adrenalin of deadlines. Browne quotes many real-life stories, such as the young reporter who had a habit of cancelling dates with his girlfriend if he thought a story was good enough to follow up. Another trainee who did occasional weekend shifts on the UK's Mail on Sunday ended up as the chief crime reporter on the Sunday Mirror. In a wittily named section, 'Living in Spin', The Journalist's Handbook tells you how to succeed in PR and spin-doctoring. There are also chapters with inside tips for the would-be radio and television broadcaster. If you are keen to join the media, or even going through an 'undecided' phase, this is the paperback for you. It even featured as my 'book at bedtime' before I managed to get a job offer as a writer on a weekly magazine. Highly recommended.

These marriage and death records were abstracted from five Grand Rapids newspapers for the years 1847-1866 by the late Marguerite N. Lambert of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan initiated vital record registration in 1867 making these earlier marriage and death records valuable to researchers. This is her third book of newspaper marriage and death records which have been published posthumously. Her two earlier publications were Marshall, Michigan Marriage and Death Newspaper Notices and Wayne County Newspaper Marriage and Death Notices. Arrangement is first by marriages, followed by the more numerous death notices, many from out of town. This book is an excellent resource for anyone researching not only in Kent County, but in the entire State of Michigan. A full name index is included.

This book is a "must have" for first-time and experienced school newspaper advisors. Levin covers everything from organizing your classroom, to layout and design, and all that is in-between. Well organized, with lesson plans and time-saving forms, Kids in Print packs an amazing amount of invaluable info into 80 pages. With this book in hand, I was able to get my 6th grade class up and running with our first issue out the door in just 6 weeks!

I helped read the proofs to the book. I would like to submit two quotes from two reviews of the volume in question. "Despite the textbook title, this is not a dry book....It is a fine journalist's fascinating view of late 20th-century public manners, satirically funny, cold-eyed, affectionate, tolerant and harsh by turns....Superb, fascinating, amusing...a splendid explosion of properly directed outrage....Anyone with the slightest interest in civilized discourse will find it a rich and refreshing account, not just of errors to avoid, but of how to recognize, laugh at, and dispose of the flatulent rubbish which assaults us from every journalistic side." Herb Greer, THE SPECTATOR (London), 20 January 2001. "...After all, Goethe knew how much harm newspapers and magazines can do when what is good in them gets swallowed up with the bad and the mediocre....He would have approved of the way that Lasky, in his new book, went about criticizing the mainstream press of New York, Washington, London, Paris (and Frankfurt)....Not 'systematically' or 'scientifically' but in a 'wild profusion of echo and allusion.' Readers are led from text to text, in clippings galore, featuring puns and punch-lines; and, once the happy reader salutes a point well made by doffing his hat, he'll never get to put it on again. And yet this is a deeply serious, urgently argued book....Who knows newspapers who only newspapers know? Melvin Lasky is at home in the world of journalism as well as in the literature of three cultures. Karl Kraus once undertook a similar task, but this work is different, lacking as it does any malevolent anger and having a touch of resignation about it. The relationship between the language of journalism and the general critique of our culture and civilization is drawn very loosely, to the great benefit of the general reader....Thus, we are offered an incomparable mix of wit and wisdom, of scholarship and attention to present-day troubles, of a twinkle of the eye and a furrowed brow of deep concern...and all in a sparkling and transparent prose, an almost wastefully rich vocabulary, and a spirit which keeps on tilting at the windmills of the Zeitgeist without losing its sense of humor....In their day Goethe, Heine and Nietzsche were indeed among those who were newspaper addicts. And Goethe suggested that he was saved -- from the bad, the mediocre, the self-destructiveness of newspapers always chasing the new -- by playing to great profit the pedantic reader. (Das mach mir denn zum reichen Gewinn/Dass ich getrost eine Pedante bin.)...." Wolfgang Schuller, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 13 March 2001

This was a great book to read and learn about a very unique part of our news history. I admit that I would not have picked this book had I not been working on a paper for a graduate class, but I'm very glad I selected a topic that put a book like this in my reading path. It's an easy read and sectioned so that you can pick it up and put it down. If you're interested in this kind of history, reading it will give you an appreciation for how much the journalism field has changed.

This book starts a little slow, as we are introduced to a rather stuffy young English lady, told through the letters she writes to family members in the mid-1800's. However, as the story unfolds, I found myself increasingly drawn into Rachel's world, and was reluctant to leave it. We follow her voyage from southern England to Australia, where she slowly adapts to and ultimately embraces life on the frontier, minus the many comforts with which she had been raised. We see not only Rachel's transformation, but a fascinating study of life in the Australian outback, and the triumph of hard work in a frontier that was at times quite harsh, yet which ultimately provided a good life. A very good book, particularly when you consider this story is told through a collection of real letters written by a real person. I bought this book used, but it has a permanent place in my library.

However, this book has too much 'adult' stuff and is not suitable for the age group suggested. It is full of funny anecdotes (some kinda racy) and I read it over and over. It also makes a great bathroom reader(!).

A serious book on Conrad Black... After all that crap in the papers, it's good to know what's true and what's not. Here is a well writen book on a very complex man...

I heard it's the only one of all the forthcoming books on Conrad Black with real interviews with Black himself... Nice to know.

One of my favorite books by this author, the character development is exceptionally strong and the plot is very well done. A very likeable protagonist that you root for throughout. This should come with a money-back guarantee!

I'M KOREAN. I WOULD LIKE TO TRANSLATE THIS BOOK. THIS BOOK MAKES TO CONCRETE MY EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVES.