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Telling Others What To Think: Recollections Of A Pundit (Politics@media)

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There is an old school of journalism, one that was still known in the seventies and eighties, and faithfully taught about in grammar school classrooms then. That was the first introduction to the proper editorial in which the journalist actually offers real information as well as opinion for many American adults. Edwin Yoder is a part of that tradition in journalism, and Telling Others What To Think is an excellent illustration of that disappearing art, not only in finished product, but also in process.

Yoder covers what is obviously for him well-trodden trails in this book, but that does not lessen the value, since this time he has taken a meandering pace. He does not shy from drifting off course to give the reader a greater insight into his own life, or the great tapestry of history that is its backdrop. The love of history is pervasive, leaving the reader with not only the story of one man's life and career, but also with an eyewitness account of the past.

From the stories of his childhood and parents, to those of his last days in the Washington newspaper scene, Yoder welcomes his readers to a rare in depth look at a phenomenal life. Accounts of great achievement are given the flavor of happy accidents, such as Yoder's acceptance to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. Heated issues of his times, although not cooled, are treated with a candor seldom seen in either historical accounts or memoirs. Segregation in the eyes of a true southern gentleman of the 1950's takes on a totally different hue, as Yoder points out that it was just a matter of everyday life, something that wasn't sincerely questioned or discussed by either side. Yoder holds with the theory that many of the racial issues since could be attributed to man rushing history by insisting on desegregation too soon, citing an unprepared economic structure. In hindsight, this theory is something historians and citizens alike would be well served to consider when enumerating the past sins of the segregationists and the current racial issues.

In spite of his claims that he lacks the eloquence of at least one of his contemporaries, Yoder weaves his tales with the precision that would be expected of any of the great journalists. The humility comes from a notion that prose of different styles can easily be compared with fairness. From another this may seem shortsighted or even foolish, but from Yoder it is merely another example of a master maintaining the sense that there may only be flirtations with perfection, the unattainable pinnacle.

Telling Others What To Think is a triumphant history of a great journalist from the time when newspapers were still considered the primary vehicle for news in the U.S. In this time of canned news and sound bite journalism, Yoder's writing is as a welcome old friend reminiscing about the days when getting the news was just that, and not a leap into the battleground of the media wars.