Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns

In the few days I've had this 400+ pager in my possession: I've revisited JFK's funeral at St. Matthew's Cathedral with Mary McGrory. Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" column told me what it was like to wake up in the White House on December 7, 1941, and learn the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I've read reports from World War II battlefields by Ernie Pyle. And joined Charles McDowell as he drove through rural Virginia listening to what the people there thought about the rumors that Nixon would resign (and that later that day would prove true). And Pete Hamill's view of New Y0rk on 9/11/01. And Tom Boswell on the September night in 1998, when Baltimore Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken voluntarily ended his career and streak of 2,632 consecutive games, just minutes before game time. And farewell columns by Walter Lippmann to Amelia Earhart and Grantland Rice to Babe Ruth and Damon Runyon to FDR and Shirley Povich to Lou Gehrig and Michael Kelly to Francis Albert Sinatra.Next on my reading list: Crime columns by Ernest Hemingway and Walter Winchell and Carl Hiaasen. Columns by Langston Hughes and I. F. Stone and William Raspberry on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties...Local columns by Mike Royko on Chicago and Molly Ivans on Lubbock and Herb Caen on San Francisco..... Hard Times columns by Woody Guthrie and Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill...Pursuit of Happiness columns by Will Rogers, Benjamin Franklin, Damon Runyan and Erma Bombeck...and oh, so many, many more. Then on to that upcoming sequel, Deadline Artists--Scandals, Tragedies and Triumphs:: More of America's Greatest Newspaper Columns.

I read the book and liked it, which happens often with books I order.

great concept. I wanted to read about some of the greatest American authors/columnists from a previous era. Authors hit several areas & included the best articles on that topic. On such a varied area there will be great articles & so so ones. There is no way around this problem. Read the book as it is a slice of American history. Hits your emotions too (both funny & sad).

In my opinion, Deadline Artists should be an essential read for writers and non-writers alike--newspaper junkies and those who scarcely read the news. This book portrays these columnists of (for the most part) the 20th century as being masters of an art--not just of journalism--merging together journalism, prose and poetry, to create these elaborate pieces of writing that are both entertaining and informing.The book itself is nicely laid out, such that columns are grouped together by broad topics (sports, war, politics, humor, etc.).There are very few books that I would recommend to friends of diverse career backgrounds. Deadline Artists is certainly one of them.

Hemingway, Mencken, Rice, Hecht, Runyon...there were writers on newspapers in those days, and these are just a smattering of the great writers in this book-a collection of columns of great newspaper columnists from the late 19th century to the great writers of today (Mike Barnacle, Eugene Robinson, et. al.). A book that if you just want to lose yourself in the beauty of men and women putting words together on paper in ways that will make you marvel, you have come to the right place.

When I saw this in a bookstore I knew I had to have it on my Kindle. It's just the kind of book I'd been wanting without knowing it. I have zero interest in sports, but read every column in this section since the writing is so splendid. Best of all was the section on farewells. Or on hard times. Or humor. ...No, I guess it's impossible to pick a favorite! I was unaware of Russell Baker's column "Beans and Francs," and what a blessing it was to discover it!

Fantastic collection of many of the great columns...a must read for anyone interested in journalism or a personal description of some of the great events of recent history.

Superb commentary on history as it was happening, arranged by general subject (war, politics, sports, civil rights, pursuit of happiness, and much, much more). Fun to read, hard to put down, so much I never knew or had never thought of from those angles. Poignancy, delightful turns of phrase, warm humor.Regrettably, the first edition is marred by an unprecedented number of typos. But the content and writing alone merit 5 stars.