Customer Reviews

Deadline: A Memoir

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I'm a big fan of memoirs by journalists and James "Scotty" Reston's name comes up on lots of books. I first read the biography on him by John Stacks ("Scotty: James B Reston, the Rise and Fall of American Journalism") but found the most interesting passages were the ones quoted from "Deadline" so bought it and find it far superior.

I found it well written and insightful. He seems to be a deeper thinker and more interesting than other favorite autobiographies by journalists & newspapermen such as Ben Bradlee, Max Frankel and Arthur Gelb. Reston's book is more in the line of Kathryn Graham's. It's surprising to me that those books all elicit so many reviews and yet Reston's book seems forgotten - it shouldn't be, in my eyes it's superior.

James ¨Scotty¨ Reston (1909-1995) was one of the top U.S. journalists of the 20th Century. In this 1991 memoir Reston describes his youth in Scotland (where many young neighbors died in the Great War), his formative years in the USA, and his 60-year journalistic career. This University of Illinois grad began writing for the Springfield Ohio Daily News and AP before joining the New York Times in 1939 - where he remained (except during the war) until the early 1990's. Reston earned a reputation for fairness and ability, and had the extensive contacts a good journalist needs. For example, after President Kennedy met privately with Soviet Premier Khrushchev at Vienna in 1961, Kennedy spoke to Reston even before briefing his own staff. Reston also describes his attack of appendicitis while visiting China with President Nixon in 1972 - and how Chinese doctors operated via acupuncture rather than anesthesia. Some say Reston was duped by Henry Kissinger in those years, but what journalist is perfect?

Reston was a very capable journalist, but his prose here lacks the easy readability of most newspaper writers, and sales of this memoir never soared. Still, this book makes interesting reading about the 20th Century.