Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns [Hardcover]

John P. Avlon (Editor), Jesse Angelo (Editor), Errol Louis (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: September 21, 2011

America's story has always been best told in its newspapers. From the local and mundane-crime blotters, crop prices, and Sunday sermons-to the Federalist Papers and Watergate, the press has played an outsized role in our nation's culture and history. Newspapers in America have always been the crucible where our passions and debates are tried by the only judge this nation respects: public opinion. At a time of great transition in the news media, Deadline Artists celebrates the relevance of the newspaper column through the simple power of excellent writing. It is an inspiration for a new generation of writers--whether their medium is print or digital-looking to learn from the best of their predecessors.

Contributors include: Jimmy Breslin, Mike Royko, Murray Kempton, Ernie Pyle, Peggy Noonan, Thomas L. Friedman, David Brooks, Mitch Albom, Dorothy Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Benjamin Franklin, Fanny Fern, Richard Harding Davis, Grantland Rice, Will Rogers, Orson Welles, Langston Hughes, Woody Guthrie, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, H.L. Mencken, Ben Hecht, Westbrook Pegler, Heywood Broun, Damon Runyon, W. C. Heinz, Jimmy Cannon, Red Smith, Russell Baker, Art Buchwald, William F. Buckley, Hunter S. Thompson, Pete Dexter, Carl Hiaasen, Dave Barry, Leonard Pitts, Anna Quindlen, Thomas Boswell, Tony Kornheiser, Kathleen Parker, Maureen Dowd, Bob Herbert, Michael Kinsley, Cynthia Tucker, George Will, Jack Newfield, Mike Barnicle, Pete Hamill and Steve Lopez.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An indispensible anthology of an American art form -- a broad and brilliantly chosen compilation of the best newspaper column writing past and present -- and a real feast. I couldn't stop reading. The stories, yarns, insights and characters -- the immediacy and passion -- still resonate, still make you laugh, and think."

(-- Peggy Noonan )

"Columnists [are] like brilliant photographers using words to deliver an instant snapshot of history viewed through their own lens. John Avlon, Jesse Angelo, and Errol Louis have performed a huge public service by capturing hundreds of those moments with this collection."

(-- Mike Barnicle )

"It is the great American art form, read by millions every day." When these eloquent, compassionate newspaper columns were first delivered, they were treated as individual works of art, almanacs to suit any disposition. Well-catalogued and categorized, this exultant retrospective of American journalism seems ideal for today's attention spans and travel schedules. In the most memorable modern excerpt from the section "Wars and Other Foreign Affairs," Pete Hamill stands in a "pale gray wilderness" following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and tells readers: "As I write, it remains present tense." In other sections, Hunter S. Thompson and O. Henry reveal a raw, emotional, and entertaining style of journalism; a formula that Jimmy Breslin's surreal "'Are You John Lennon?'" piece surely encapsulates. Avlon, Angelo, and Louis's glorious compilation "is a chance to be there at moments when America changes, for better or for worse." Free-flowing to the very end, lasting drops of pure wisdom come in the form of Mary Schmich's infamous "sunscreen" composition, while Benjamin Franklin's 1757 sermon of advice literally offers words to live by. "Well done is better than well said," Franklin writes, but as far as this essential anthology goes, it's so well done, there's nothing left to say."

(--Publisher's Weekly Starred Review )

"This may be the most addictive journalism book ever: dozens of glittering columns on topics Olympic and ordinary, most produced on deadline by a pantheon of outstanding writers, a collection that should squash any doubts that journalism should be literature."

(--The American Journalism Review, Winter 2011

)

About the Author

JOHN AVLON is a senior columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast as well as a CNN contributor. He is the author of Independent Nation and Wingnuts. Previously, Avlon was the chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani as well as a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.

JESSE ANGELO is Editor-in-Chief of The Daily, the first national news brand built from scratch for the iPad and other emerging platforms, as well as Executive Editor of the New York Post. A native New Yorker, Angelo worked as a reporter for The Sun in London and the Daily Telegraph in Sydney before joining the Post in 1999. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College.

ERROL LOUIS is the host of "Inside City Hall" on NY1. Previously he was a Daily News columnist, and he was named Best Columnist & Radio Show Host by the Village Voice in 2010. He is a CNN contributor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; First Edition edition (September 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590204298
• ISBN-13: 978-1590204290
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely wonderful! September 22, 2011

By TheLadyBandit

Format:Hardcover

I'm a journalist, and I've always been amazed no one's done a collection like this yet. I picked up Deadline Artists last week, thinking I'd read it slowly, piece by piece, and instead found myself tearing through the whole thing in two days. The columns are terrific, each and every one, and they take you back to a time when column-writing was a real art, before all the blogs and so much of the dashed-off blather we have now online. Each piece tells a story: Shirley Povich on Lou Gehrig Day, Mike Royko on Mayor Daley, Gene Weingarten on the worst city in the U.S., and on and on and on. Taken all together, the columns also tell a bigger story, making Deadline Artists feel like not just a collection of disparate works but also a history of America, written piecemeal by the greatest journalists and opinion writers of the last two centuries. It's really just a great book. Highly recommend!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great and entertaining compilation September 30, 2011

By Ted the News Junkie

Format:Hardcover

Any self-respecting news-junkie should own a copy of this book. The compilation is a wonderful collection of columns with (a) rich and entertaining language that plays to one's good-writer lobe and (b) snipets of american history's greatest hits which remain relevant as context for current events unfolding today.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Deadline Artists November 1, 2011

By C. Smith

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a definite must for newspaper
and magazine fans. Covering decades of the
best in journalism, it is divided into
categories and presents the chosen
favorites chronologically. It is an
enthralling read and you can do it in
order or by author. My single criticism
is that the authors edited it themselves.
I have never encountered so much garbled
grammar, missed and jumbled words, etc.
There is no reason for that. Otherwise
definitely, go for it.