A “superb [and] often hilarious” memoir of a life in journalism, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Growing Up (The New York Times Book Review). “Baker here recalls his years at the Baltimore Sun, where, on ‘starvation wages,’ he worked on the police beat, as a rewrite man, feature writer and White House correspondent. Sent to London in 1953 to report on the coronation, he spent the happiest year of his life there as an innocent abroad. Moving to the New York Times and becoming a ‘two-fisted drinker,’ he covered the Senate and the national political campaigns of 1956 and 1960, and, just as he was becoming bored with routine reporting and the obligation to keep judgments out of his stories, was offered the opportunity to write his own op-ed page column, ‘The Observer.’ With its lively stories about journalists, Washington politicians and topical scandals, the book will delight Baker’s devotees—and significantly expand their already vast number.” —Publishers Weekly “Aspiring writers will chuckle over Baker’s first, horrible day on police beat, his panicked interview with Evelyn Waugh, and his arrival at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in top hat, tails, and brown-bag lunch.” —Library Journal “A wonderful book.” —Kirkus Reviews
“It is not that Russell Baker is funny, his genius is being so true that nothing remains but to laugh.” —John Kenneth Galbraith "Baker, like Andy Rooney, looks into things that keep all our lives from being ordinary." —Chattanooga News-Free Press Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Russell Baker has charmed readers with his sharp humor and shrewd commentary. The indelible voice of the bestselling memoir GROWING UP compiles some of his greatest New York Times columns in this collection of honest, witty, and profound essays—reflecting on politics, society, and life in all its absurd glory.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir about coming of age in America between the world wars: “So warm, so likable and so disarmingly funny” (The New York Times). One of the New York Times’ “50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Ranging from the backwoods of Virginia to a New Jersey commuter town to the city of Baltimore, this remarkable memoir recounts Russell Baker’s experience of growing up in pre–World War II America, before he went on to a celebrated career in journalism. With poignant, humorous tales of powerful love, awkward sex, and courage in the face of adversity, Baker reveals how he helped his mother and family through the Great Depression by delivering papers and hustling subscriptions to the Saturday Evening Post—a job which introduced him to bullies, mentors, and heroes who endured this national disaster with hard work and good cheer. Called “a treasure” by Anne Tyler and “a blessing” by Time magazine, this autobiography is a modern-day classic—“a wondrous book [with scenes] as funny and touching as Mark Twain’s” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). “In lovely, haunting prose, he has told a story that is deeply in the American grain.” —The Washington Post Book World “A terrific book.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Growing Up and host of Masterpiece Theatre, Russell Baker has long been a keen observer of American politics and culture. In these essays originally published in the New York Review of Books, Baker profiles a gallery of heroes and rascals who have stirred the American imagination. His subjects include the tragic gulf between the life and myth of Joe DiMaggio; the epic feud between Lyndon Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy; Barry Goldwater's mercurial yet inspiring role in the rise of the American conservative movement; and more.
Humorous essays by the Pulitzer Prize–winning “supreme satirist” (The Washington Post Book World). This collection of more than a hundred anecdotes and essays from the legendary journalist, New York Times columnist, and author of the bestselling memoir Growing Up offers wise and sharply witty reflections on an extraordinary array of topics, ranging from youth, wealth, the media, and the joy of anger to the difference between “dinner” and “supper.” “Russell Baker is the Alka-Seltzer of the American experience. . . . The most effective comic relief available for the agonizing absurdities we encounter every day.” —Houston Chronicle “When it comes to satire of a controlled but effervescent ferocity, nobody can touch Baker.” —The Washington Post Book World
The author of On Writing Well presents stories and advice on the writing process from Frank McCourt, Annie Dillard, and many more. For anyone who enjoys reading memoirs—or is thinking about writing one—this collection offers a master class from nine distinguished authors: Russell Baker, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alfred Kazin, Frank McCourt, Toni Morrison, and Eileen Simpson. “Annie Dillard talks of her Pittsburgh childhood and her moment of waking to the world outside. Russell Baker explains why his first draft of Growing Up was so bad that he had to start over again. Alfred Kazin finds that writing about his Brooklyn childhood connected him with the great tradition of Emerson and Whitman. Toni Morrison tells why her fiction uses not only family history but the slave narratives of her people. Lewis Thomas traces the evolution of his singular self from primeval bacteria to contemporary scientist whose drive to be useful is the most fundamental of all biological necessities. . . . Delightful and instructive.” —Library Journal
THE STORY: Bob and Sam work for the same corporation, but have not seen each other for three years since Sam has been heading the company's new operation in Italy. Sam and his wife, Molly, return for a visit to the United States and invite Bob and
A new Germany has come of age, as democratic, sophisticated, affluent, and modern as any other western nation. This remarkable transition in little more than a generation is the central theme of Germany Transformed. Here all the old stereotypes and conclusions are challenged and new research is marshalled to provide a model for an advanced democratic republic. Kendall Baker, Russell Dalton, and Kai Hildebrandt, working with massive national election returns from 1953 onward, explain the Old Politics of the postwar period, which was based on the "economic miracle" and the security needs of West Germany, and the shift in the past decade to the New Politics, which emphasizes affluence, leisure, the quality of life, and international accommodation. But more than elections are examined. Rather, the authors delineate the transvaluation of the German civic culture as democracy became embedded in the nation's institutions, political ways, party structures, and citizen interest in governance. By the 1970s the quiescent German of Prussia, the Empire, and the 1930s had become the active and aware democratic westerner. This is among the most important books about West Germany written since the late 1950s, when the nation, devastated by war and rebuilding its economy and political life, was still struggling with the possibilities of democracy. It is a political history, recounted in enormous detail and with methodological precision, that will change perceptions about Germany and align them with realities. Germany is now an integrated part of a democratic western community of nations, and an understanding of its true condition not only illuminates better the staunch European identity but also is bound to have an impact on American policy.
100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource guide for true fans of the Washington Nationals. Whether you're a die-hard booster from the days of the Senators or a new supporter of the Bryce Harper-led squad, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. It contains every essential piece of Nationals knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom.
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