Synopsis
While it’s said that journalism is the first draft of history, The Mammoth Book of Journalism demonstrates that sometimes the reporters have outdone the historians in analyzing great events and bringing them to life. Veteran editor and former journalist Jon E. Lewis has chosen the best articles, editorials, reviews, commentary, interviews, and reportage for this unique anthology, which spans from Charles Dickens on “Execution by Guillotine” and Mark Twain on “Americans Abroad” to contemporary reporting of the first McDonald’s in Moscow and the funeral of Princess Diana. Covering such diverse topics as war, politics, sports, disasters, crime, fashion, humor, civil rights, and culture, this unique encyclopedic collection features such award-winning and event-making writers as H. L. Mencken, Martha Gellhorn, Studs Terkel, William Shirer, Harrison Salisbury, Tom Wolfe, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, John Hersey, and many more. Whether with the humor of P. J. O’Rourke, the film criticism of Pauline Kael, the observations of Bill Byrson, the book reviews of Dorothy Parker, or the political analysis of I. F. Stone, The Mammoth Book of Journalism will delight and inform not only the student of the modern newspaper but also lovers of history-in-the-making.
Library Journal
"Mammoth" books have become something of a cottage industry for Lewis, who has edited several. This one purports to deliver the 100 greatest newspaper articles, though Lewis provides no criteria for how he selected these pieces or details about how he reviewed the millions of potential candidates. Articles are arranged chronologically, beginning with a travel sketch, written by Charles Dickens in 1845, that oddly enough (given the book's title) was never published in a newspaper. The last article, published in the Guardian in 1997, is Jonathan Freedland's account of the return of Princess Diana's body to England. In between are stories written both by famous journalists-although some, like Winston Churchill, are not known primarily as journalists-and by writers whose names will not be familiar. Each piece has a very short introduction, and the articles cover a wide range of topics. It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to read this collection of disembodied articles. Not recommended.-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.