Newspapers Books

This book gives a fascinating glimpse into the minds and hearts of newspaper reporters. The section of how reporters covered the Black Dahlia murder case was interesting, if not a little disturbing. Very thorough look at L.A. and its newspapers.

Rob Wagner has performed a great and long overdue service. He has chronicled the history of L.A. newspapers in the first half of the 20th Century---a "Front Page" era when L.A. had a half-dozen dailies, with many editions per day. Wagner is to be particularly congratulated for recounting the rise and fall of the original L.A. Daily News, a peach-colored oversized tabloid much revered in its day. The DN, at one time the circulation leader, hosted an array of great writers, from the legendary Matt Weinstock (THE L.A. columnist of his day)to Jack Smith and Jim Murray. The book is painstaking in its research of circulation figures and union struggles---spiced with rollicking anecdotes about great newspapermen (and women) of the day. This is the definitive history of Los Angeles newspapers.

Red Ink, White Lies is an impressive and informative chronicle of the successes and failures of six Los Angeles daily newspapers during an era of the city's fiercest newspaper wars and competitions. Author Rob Wagner (who is a veteran of more than 26 years as a reporter, city editor, managing editor, and night editor) interviewed dozens of newsman and women, resulting in a vivid and candid portrait of prewar and postwar newspaper reporters, including their lifestyle, ethics and professionalism. From celebrity journalism to mob era police corruption, reportage of ethnic minority communities and the "red-baiting" 50s, Red Ink, White Lies is a thoroughly fascinating, insightful contribution to the 20th century history of journalism.

I love to read about Los Angeles history, and I thought I've studied just about everything on this city. But this book just blew me away. It's a totaly different take on early 20th century Los Angeles told by the men and women who lived it and reported on for the city's daily newspapers. It is filled with anecdotal accounts of L.A.'s most sensational crimes, mobsters, and bad cops. It tells the history of the city not from the scholarly ivory tower but through the eyes of the newspaper reporter, editor, and photographer who witnessed these actual awesome events. A real wonderful read. It's well-sourced. I got a kick out of the who's who at the end of the book that lists and provides bios of nearly 200 L.A. journalists of the day.

My Daughter has every American Girl book and Mystery. They are fantastic for elementary school age girls. Lots of history in each one.

I like this book because of the way Emma Henderson feels about how her mother dresses, and because of all the mystery! I recommend this book to whoever loves mysteries and\or has read any other American Girl History Mysteries.

I like this book because of the way Emma Henderson feels about how her mother dresses, and because of all the mystery! I recommend this book to whoever loves mysteries and\or has read any other American Girl History Mysteries.

Whistler in the Dark is a great historical mystery book about a twelve-year-old girl, Emma Henderson, who is sad because her father was killed in the Civil War, and her mother has no time to spend with her. When her mother decides to wear a Reform Dress and move to Colorado to start a newspaper, Emma is even more upset. But her troubles become even worse when they arrive in Twin Pines. The gold rush town has no houses, no schools, and no other girls Emmaýs age. Someone also doesnýt want the newspaper to succeed and sends them a threatening note, dumps their ink, and does awful things to try and scare them off. Emma is also scared because a ghost-like figure has followed them from Chicago and, each night, goes by her window at the boarding house and whistles a tune that her dead father used to whistle all the time. At the end of the story, Emma figures out who is trying to scare them away from Twin Pines, and who is the secret whistler. Emma also learns to admire her mother for going West where she could be more than just a mother.

I read this book for my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Maull (who rocks!) The book was a little bit scary at one point, but it was still really a great book. I loved learning about how women couldn't wear pants or do a lot of jobs other than be a mom or wife! My grandmother read the book and loved it, too. So I recommend this book to all girls of all ages!

Insightful and well written. I really enjoyed sharing the life of this remarkable woman.

Ms. Greenwald's insightful biography of the fascinating woman who was both a shaper and observer of the women's movement is fascinating reading. Highly informative and entertaining this book is a real page turner.

The authors writing style is captivating and I look forward to her next endeavor.

As a former Times writer I was impressed with Ms. Greenwald's thorough investigation and her ability to capture Charlotte's persona.

After seeing a re-broadcast of Marilyn Greenwald on CNN and having just read yet another review (NY Times and Dallas paper), there is no brouhaha over this one --this is a fine work.

This is a fascinating book, not just for Civil War buffs or journalism junkies - but for any of us who get a daily news fix from the newspapers, TV or the Web. It reminds us that we should always bear in mind who's delivering the information.
In his book, The Words of War, Mr. Bracken takes a very novel approach to a discussion of the Civil War, contrasting the coverage of several wartime events by two newspapers from two disparate regions, The Charleston Mercury of South Carolina and the northeast's New York Times. The differences in the reporting are striking, with the tenor and the details differing greatly.
How interesting it is to read news reports from over a century ago against current events. The politics, the war, the economy and the specific issues might vary; now it's not the North and the South, as much as it is the red states and the blue states.
This book serves as a terrific reminder that we must continue to question the objectivity and validity of the information we get. I highly recommend it.

The old axiom, "History is written by the winners," is essentially rejected in Donagh Bracken's new book, The Words of War. Bracken compares the Civil War battle reportage of the New York Times and the Charleston Mercury, juxtaposing the articles back to back. The result is a clear demonstration that history, at least during the many battles of the Civil War, is simply written by those who happened to be there.

In his introduction to the book, Bracken writes, "When the Civil War started, American journalism was put to the test. It was the start of the modern age of journalism, and it was a rough start indeed." The formative years of American journalism saw newspapers operated almost exclusively as propaganda organs, owned by some political person or party and used primarily to persuade the public for one cause or another. But when the Civil War came along, the very purpose of newspapers changed.

The public wanted information that was current, demanding up-to-date reportage of events that took place hundreds and thousands of miles away. Newspaper editors switched the focus of their papers' content from propaganda to covering the facts of battle, the "who-what-when and where" of it all. While the papers in the North and South always had different takes as to the "why" element of battle reportage, they still had to meet the chief demand of their reading public: that they get the facts, preferably as soon as possible. The new telegraph technology allowed for current reportage, and for the first time in the history of warfare, correspondents provided stories in a timely fashion.

New York was the newspaper capital of the country when war broke out, boasting 17 dailies. Many were pro-South and only five of them supported President Abraham Lincoln. Bracken focuses on one of those five, the New York Times, and its considerably talented editor Henry J. Raymond. Long interested in politics and journalism, Raymond was a principal founder of the New York Times in 1851 and also helped create the Republican Party after he left the Whigs in 1856.

In contrast, Bracken presents the firebrand editor of the Charleston Mercury, Robert Barnwell Rhett. Under the wonderful pseudonym "Hermes," Rhett penned the editorials that would lead South Carolina to be the first state to secede on Dec. 20, 1860. "He was quick of mind, brash and self-confident," writes Bracken, "and of the latter, annoyingly so to some." Rhett had considerable editorial influence over the Charleston Mercury, which was owned by Rhett's family.

Bracken is described on the book jacket as "...a writer of long standing having written extensively for newspapers and magazines for thirty years on subjects ranging from world history to economics." His familiarity with the Civil War subject matter is obvious in The Words of War and his approach to writing the book is organized and efficient.

Each chapter presents a battle, beginning with an author's commentary that sets the context. Then Bracken prints verbatim and unaltered the articles from the Charleston Mercury and then the articles from the New York Times that covered the battle. Sometimes maps, drawings and paintings are reprinted. Bracken then concludes each chapter with a section called "What Historians Say," usually a few paragraphs that cut the facts about the battle down to the barest of bones.

The most interesting portions of the book are found in the sections where actual dispatches and communications between the armies were published in the papers. For example, Bracken presents the fascinating exchange between Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner during the battle at Fort Donelson early in 1862, as printed in the New York Times. Buckner sent Grant a dispatch proposing that a group of commissioners be appointed to determine terms of surrender. Grant responds:

Sir: Yours, of this date, proposing an armistice and the appointment of Commissioners to settle the terms of capitulation is just received. No terms except unconditional surrender and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works. I am very respectfully, your obedient servant.

Thus we learn how the famous nickname, Unconditional Surrender Grant, was created. The exchanges and notes between opposing commanders add a great deal of interest to Bracken's book.

The Words of War will appeal to a wide variety of audiences. Civil War buffs, journalists and history students will find a great deal of value in the book. The book is so well organized that the reader does not have to go through the entire book in one sitting; he can peruse this chapter or that chapter, go to whichever battles he finds most interesting, and not lose any of the overall context. The book reads easily and provides information and perspective that even the most diehard of Civil War buffs will find new and enlightening. Bracken's effort is a solid one.

Beginning with the firing on Fort Sumpter and concluding with the Appomattox surrender of General Lee to General Grant four years later, "The Words Of War" is a unique and seminal contribution to the American Civil War literature. What author and Civil War historian Donagh Bracken has done is to compile and organize in chronological sequence the reports by newspaper correspondents from both the North and the South with respect to how the journalists wrote about the war for their newspapers back home. Specifically, the reporters for 'The New York Times' like Franc Wilkie, L.L. Crounse and others who were embedded with the northern Armies of Grant, Sherman, McClellan, and other officers and admirals in the Eastern and Western Theatres; and the reporters for such southern newspapers like the 'Charleston Mercury' like Robert Barnwell Rhett Sr. & Jr. and George William Bagy (under the pen name of Hermes). The northern and southern newspaper accounts are placed in juxtaposition with each other making for an inherently fascinating, impressively informative, enthusiastically recommended contribution to personal, academic, and community library Civil War Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Fascinating perspective on the role journalism plays in guiding the minds and hearts of the public. The same events told from the perspective of the participants. Civil War scholars will want to add this to their collections!

In many ways, "Working with Words" differs little from other grammar books. It accomplishes its task very well, though. A highlight of this book has to be its organization. The book is divided into 11 chapters and 4 appendixes. All the basics are covered: sentences, phrases and clauses; the parts of speech; punctuation, etc. Other sections cover tight writing, muddled language and "sexism, racism and other '-isms.'"

But the absolute best parts of this book are the lists and appendixes. "What to Tighten A-Z" offers a quick guide to getting rid of phrases that are wordy, redundant or cliche. "Confused words" helps you decide whether to use continual or continuous, fortuitous or fortunate among many others. Sections on common mistakes and frequently misspelled words also help you avoid errors. But my favorite section has to be the one called "One word, two words or hyphenated?" It is a fabulously quick and easy reference.

This is simply the best single text on writing. It is well written and clear. It covers all the aspects of mechanics that are necessary for good writing. It also gives the necessary teaching about proper grammar. There are many good (as well as confusing) books on the market about this topic, but, for me, this is the "writing bible." I have multiple copies of this book so I can loan them out from time to time, but I also have a personal copy at home as well as at work that no one gets to "touch" except me. I recommend this text to all my students.

I first bought Working With Words in 1991 as a journalism student at University of Missouri, where the authors are profs. This book is as responsible for preparing me for my current job as section editor at a major metropolitan newspaper as was any class I ever took.

Executives, assistants, sales reps -- anyone who needs to write and speak like an intelligent human being -- should own this book.

The first thing I do when get a new copy editor is buy them a copy of Working with Words. Buy one yourself and you'll be amazed at how much you don't know.

BTN, Chicago Tribune, MU BJ '92

I haven't found a better one yet. Not that you'd want to curl up with it, or anything. The most useful part is the chapter on "-isms" by Jean Gaddy Wilson.

Imagine my suprise as a college journalism student to discover the racist term "spearchucker" was NOT considered OK for publication. Really? It said right there in the "S" section: "Do not use." And you know what? That stuck with me. I've written thousands of articles and have never used it once. But it ain't just racism that's covered. Get ready to learn how to control your inherent ageism, you durn kids. "Well-preserved," for instance, is an "offensive phrase applied to women and senior citizens; avoid." Also, "without rhythm," is a stereotype that implies whites can't dance, which angers me, a white man who can really cut a rug. On the other hand, "with rhythm" is also defined as an offensive stereotype for African-Americans, implying they are able to dance, and to dance well. This leaves me confused. Is it good or bad to have rhythm? Should we just avoid the whole topic of rhythm? I suppose so.

Other specified terms to avoid: buxom, foxy, fragile, full-figured, wetbacks, wench, white bread, wheat bread (just kidding, you can use wheat bread) trollop, tart, loose woman, hussy, wop, dago, working man, workmen's comp.

Yep, you read it right. A newspaper lede that reads, "ROME--The Wop president yesterday sacked four top cabinet officials as his government came under increasing attack for blah blah blah....." just doesn't cut it in the professional world of journalism.

Thanks to this fine book, there will no longer be any confusion about that.

(This text refers to the 1993 ed.)

Compiled and organized by Elaine Morrison Fitch, The 1848 Boston Cultivator: Marriages, Deaths, And Miscellaneous Readings presents articles abstracted from the Boston Cultivator weekly newspaper, carefully arranged in chronological order for the year 1848. A straightforward presentation accurately indexed for quick reference, The 1848 Boston Cultivator is a superb primary source for genealogists, historians, and non-specialist general readers curious to read anecdotes of life and death in a bygone era of American history.

This book is a terrific read for the history buff! Reading the stories truly brought 1848 America to life for me. It was nice to have all the information in chronological order as you read through them. There is a wealth of information in this book. It has a huge index with over 8,000 names making it easy for those people researching family histories. I particularly enjoyed reading the articles concerning westward expansion. It is incredible to relive those moments recounted in this book. An enjoyable and informative read!
Highly recommended to anyone interested in history, society or genealogy. Can't wait for her next one!

This is a truly excellent resource for anyone doing research on this time period, you just cannot find this information anywhere else. There are thousands of names in it. This book has birth, marriage and death announcements for the entire New England area for 1848. I found the stories so interesting, actual accounts of shipwrecks, fires, accidents and crime as they were reported in 1848. I highly recommed this book!

I've been interested in old magazines for a few years now, and have been looking for a helpful price guide. I just bought this, and I highly recommend it. There's a lot of information, not just about the magazines most of us are familiar with, but also about many lesser knonwn older magazines that have great value due to authors who published their early work in them--e.g. Edgar Allen Poe. It's not just helpful information as a price guide, it's very interesting reading! Lots of great color photos also. I looked through another magazine price guide in a bookstore, and this one is much, much better.

I picked up this book to learn more about vintage ads and magazines I was interested in. I was pleasantly surprised that not only was the book a complete guide to magazines but had great analgoies and stories the "editors" wrote within.
Great information on a subject that seems to be little explored.

When we moved into our 1920's home,we found boxes left in the attic filled with old fashion magazines. My husband was ready to trash the lot, but being of the pack rat variety I found a home for them in my office.

With the help of The Antique Trader Vintage Magazines Price Guide the door was opened for me to the world of old magazines. The beautiful color photos helped me to easily identify my boxes of "trash" and give them a value.

Most important, the love affair the authors have for magazines comes across in their historical entries. The unique way they organize collectible magazine people into Sleepers like OZ artist W.W. Denslow or Stars like F.Scott Fitzgerald makes me want to haunt local yard sales. My major problem with the book was that I became so fascinated that I wanted more. The book could easily have been double in size and information and kept my interest as both a reader and for use as a desk reference. With what I've learned, our next home will hopefully be an 1890's Victorian with a basement full of Godey's Lady's Book magazines.

What an amazing book! Amy Hoffman's book is hilarious, deep, and smarter than a six-foot shelf of queer theory in its understanding of friendship, squabbling, and community. It's rare that a book this funny is also crucial reading, but it is, for anyone who wants to know more about the 1970s feminist and/or lesbian/gay movement and its passions and commitments, not to mention anyone who has ever sat through a political meeting or worked in a collective.

I loved this book. Amy Hoffman captures an incredibly exciting time for lesbians, gays, and women in general. She's funny, moving, and insightful. I was in Cambridge during that time, (have just finished writing a novel about it, a matter of fact) and the book evoked it beautifully for me. I recommend it for all women, gay straight and in between, who never stop trying to figure out who they are, no matter what their age.

This book is the best LGBT read of 2007. Hoffman is informative and wonderfully self-depracating. Her rich history of working in Boston for a gay newspaper is full of amazing tales, making the book easy to read a bit by bit or straight through. As a younger reader, Hoffman's book helped me to appreciate all of the hard work gay rights activists put in to ensure the freedoms we celebrate today, especially here in Massachusetts.
Thanks Amy for your enlightening book!

This is quite an interesting guide for those seeking for innovation in newspaper design. What makes it so interesting is the fact that it's assembled with pages and pages of newspaper desing around the world.
Good choise if browing for a change in your paper.

What's the matter with newspapers these days? Not enough creativity, put simply. blah, blah, blah. this is THE book that will get those creative juices going from the very first glance. Gorgeous format photography (the eager and well-sighted can even read the articles) encompassing designs from around the globe, gloss paper and well written guidelines consolidate a book that is a pleasure to view and a pride to own. In previous years I have found it is not wise to lend - it takes ages to get the blessed book back!! A genuine and completely worthy investment, and absolutely recommended.

Julie Jansen: Freelance Journalist, Brisbane, Australia. Email: julie@journalism.com

I bought this book because I wanted to see the world's best newspaper designs. What I got is more than expected. Now I know what makes best newspapers. It's a combination of a lot of things. There are lessons to be learnt although the book is not a manual. Newspaper designers, editors, photographers and art directors better work together hand in hand to produce the highest quality newspaper or else.... I found that european newspapers are superb in the combination of news, art and design. What more can you ask if they can blend them so well in a newspaper. The American newspapers fares equally well with a combination of news and photos. For the Asian and the Pacific,... they had better catch up.

This is a very good read. The book tells the story as to how the press in the USA covered the Holocaust. In doing so it explodes a lot of myths concerning the alleged lack of knowledge about what was happening to the Jews. Newspaper after newspaper from The New York Times on down had articles about the persecutions and murders. Yet they were never emphasized properly and were often relegated to the back pages. Rarely did they ever make the front pages. It was almost as if the nation preferred not to know. Many factors contributed to this; anit-Semitism, isolationism, American skepticism. The American government also contributed to down playing the news. The three most prominent villains in this were: Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long ( anativist), Assistant Secrteary of War John J. McCloy (who said that if the USA bombed Auschwitz the nazis would be "even more vindictive") and Congressman Sol F. Bloom who headed the House Foreign Affairs Committee (and was referred to by Stephen Wise as "the State Departments House Jew"). There were reporters who did their jobs well who constantly emphasized that anti-Semitism was a "raison d'etre" of National Socialism however they were in the minority. This book along with David S. Wyman's "The Abandonment of the Jews" are the two best books on the subject. William D. Rubinstein's "The Myth of Rescue" is a poorly written book that contradicts itself over and over again and is a book for peopel who think that FDR could do no wrong.

This book gives great insight into the way in which the American press treated the holocaust. While often overlooked, the press handled the holocaust in a manner that many Americans would be ashamed of today. This book is unique in that no other book i know of has delved as deeply into this area. In addition, Dr. Lipstadt is a truely unique and knowledgable expert on the holocaust.

This book should be required reading for all jounalism college majors who intend to "tell the whole truth." If the present doesn't reveal the truth then history will.
Ms. Lipstadt did an incredible job of researching and tying together huge numbers of old newspaper articles and putting them together to tell the whole story chonologically and coherently. She showed the hypocricy of the press in calling for "something" to be done (after they could no longer deny atrocities were happening) then fomenting opposition to allowing anymore refugees into this country. They could have cited, "there are almost half a million immigration visas available, bring them in."
She also shows the hypocricy of the British press who also called for "something" to be done, then when the war was over and surviving Jews were trying to get into British Mandate Palestine, there was no cry from the press, "We didn't do anything then, but now we should not hinder them in immigrating to their homeland." Of all nations, the Brits are the most culpable because they had control over The Land, and instead of allowing walking miracles to start new lives, they hindered them with all their might,preventing surviving Jews from coming in before and during the war, then sending them to Cyprus after the war; shooting them down as they tried to swim ashore after their ships had been fired upon sunk, and the French sent those survivors on "The Exodus," back to camps in Germany. With every cell in my body I want to cry out, "How could you??"
Thank you, Ms. Lipstadt for gathering painful information and putting it into such a gripping account.