I NEVER LOOKED FOR MY MOTHER And Other Regrets of a Journalist [Paperback]

Joseph P. Ritz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2006

A journalist tells stories about newspapers and why he never tried to discover who his parents were. The book leads to an understanding of what he owes the couple who raised him and the mother who gave him up.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph P. Ritz is an award-winning journalist and a published author and playwright. In a long career he has worked for six daily newspapers He was a correspondent for the United Press and been a stringer for such newspapers as The New York Post , The New York Herald-Tribune, The Detroit Times, The National Catholic Reporter, The Chicago Tribune and The London (England) Express.

He is the author of a book, The Despised Poor, (Beacon Press) which received favorable reviews in the New York Times and several other newspapers and in national magazines, such as The Atlantic Monthly.

Ritz wrote part of a series of articles entitled The Road to Integration, which won a Pulitzer Prize for the Gannett Group of newspapers. He has also won several national and state awards in his own right for his newspaper stories. . He was one of four finalists in the prestigious Drama League of New York’s 1987-88 Plays in Progress Competition for Abbey of the Monongahela , a play set in a Trappist monastery focusing on the conflict between a feminist reporter wishing to find out the truth about a famous monk’s illicit romance and the abbot who wants to keep the story hidden.

It also won an award from the University of Massachusetts’ Theater Department, where it was further developed and renamed Trappists. opened in April, 2001 in New York City. It is published in an anthology entitled: INCISIONS, Award Winning Plays from the Stage and Screen Book Club.

In 2002 he was awarded a playwriting fellowship by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Articles syndicated by: The Associated Press, North American Newspaper Alliance, Gannett News Service.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc. (January 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591138795
• ISBN-13: 978-1591138792
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,049,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written with raw honesty, February 18, 2006

By 

Susan C. (Bridgewater, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I NEVER LOOKED FOR MY MOTHER And Other Regrets of a Journalist (Paperback)

Joseph Ritz describes with raw honesty how the external forces throughout our lives shape the person that we become. His painful accounts of being raised by an adoptive psychologically paranoid mother and abusive father during America's years of depression and wars are told with a generous sprinkling of humor to avoid being too dark, but with an openness that draws on the reader's emotions. His success as a journalist gives hope that we can all overcome life's adversities. I recommend that you read it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The memoirs of a journalist, May 8, 2006

By 

K. Trout "Kaye" (Pagosa Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I NEVER LOOKED FOR MY MOTHER And Other Regrets of a Journalist (Paperback)

I Never Looked for My Mother

And Other Regrets of a Journalist

Joseph P. Ritz

Booklocker.com, Inc.

Genre: Autobiographical

ISBN: 1591138795, $14.95, 184 pp, 2006

This book is a memoir of short stories from the life of Joseph P. Ritz. He is an award-winning journalist, published author and playwright. He has a rich and varied background which adds to the interest, quality and humor in this book.

I think what impressed me the most about his life growing up was the impact the Catholic church had on his thinking and in particular on his ideas about sexuality and sinfulness. It's nice to know, judging from the number of children he sired, that he finally figured out the mystery for himself.

If you enjoy memoirs of interesting people who were involved in historical events, want to experience the challenges of growing up in another time with dysfunctional parents and are interested in knowing something about the newspaper business, I'm certain you will enjoy the author's story.

Other books by the author include The Despised Poor.

Reviewed by Kaye Trout - May 8, 2006 - Copyright

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life Well L ived, February 4, 2007

By 

M. C. Rahill "reader" (Hamburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I NEVER LOOKED FOR MY MOTHER And Other Regrets of a Journalist (Paperback)

Any one with newspaper experience will empathize with the autobiography of this author as he relates the rough and tumble life of a reporter moving around the country from one small town paper to another until he finally lands on the metrpolitan Buffalo News. With humor and appreciation, the author descrbes the foibles and characters of the editors who peopled his career. His career spanned the years that began the consolidation and demise of newspapers around the country. He was working for the Buffalo Courier Express when it closed in 1982. He describes his roll as a guild officer,and the frustration and bitterness felt by himself and associates at the demise. The author did not arrived at his career the easy way. His descriptions of a paranoid mother and father who often expressed himself with violence makes one wonder that he was able to achieve his goal of becoming a writer. His story of achieving a college education and his goal of writing deserve our admiration.