Summer Roundup: Journalism-Related Books Reviewed

By: Sarah Weber Catching up on our reading this month, here are reviews of five current books that have crossed our desk this summer:


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?A Writer?s Coach: An Editor?s Guide to Words that Work? (Pantheon) fits within the bevy of self-help books the public has been inundated with lately. But unlike some of the more outlandish ones, Jack Hart?s book is an intelligent, accessible read that can provide some help in the ways of writing. Hart, the managing editor and writing coach Portland?s The Oregonian, avoids a dry academic rendering of grammatical and style issues. Instead, armed with Venn diagrams and copious amounts of inspirational quotes from famous writers, Hart tries to empower the reader by demystifying the process of writing well.

The book?s chapters are commanding one-word mantras: ?Structure,? ?Brevity,? ?Color,? and ?Mastery,? to name a few. Each has a cheat sheet at the end, which enumerates the chapters? lessons in succinct form. Hart peppers the book with excerpts from the work of fellow staffers at the Oregonian and famous writers that demonstrate his teachings. The book is a useful addition to any library, particularly for those who still confuse ?that? with ?which.?


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?Country Editor? (Images from the Past) is a biography of Henry Beetle Hough, the conservationist and longtime editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette, which has served Martha?s Vineyard since 1846. Phyllis M?ras? book is not only one of tribute to a man she knew personally, but also a cautionary tale against the danger of overdeveloping the beautiful area that Hough and his wife Betty fell in love with half a century ago.

Amid the rich black-and-white photographs of Martha?s Vineyard and the Hough family, M?ras draws a vivid portrait of Hough, who with his wife Betty helped to make the Gazette a well-respected publication that fought for the local community. The book also describes the Houghs? commitment to nature conservation, and how their love of the Vineyard?s breathtaking landscape spurred their campaigns against developers like McDonald?s and the Massachusetts Highway Commission, among others.


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Like many before him, Michael S. Sweeney divides this nation?s history partly by its involvement in wars. In his ?The Military and the Press: An Uneasy Truce? (Medill), Sweeney examines the press? role in war coverage from before World War I to the present day. The book poses that at some point?Roy Gutman?s foreword suggests the end of the Cold War?the American press blundered in its war coverage, leaving it struggling to remain relevant.

Inspired in part by the ?emotional punch? of wartime correspondent Ernie Pyle?s writing, Sweeney (head of the J-school at Utah State University) breaks down America?s history in order to examine wartime coverage and its reception back home. From the Spanish-American War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sweeney shows that censorship and military manipulation of the press are nothing new; rather, it is the manner in which the press manages these obstacles that has regressed.


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Culled from workshops on journalism, race, and ethnicity held at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, ?The Authentic Voice? (Columbia University) is a multimedia collection that showcases ?the best reporting on race and ethnicity.? Though the book--which comes with a DVD of the televised reports and interviews--is set up like a textbook, with discussion points and suggested readings, it is both a gripping and important read for non-journalism students as well.

The book--which was edited by Arlene Notoro Morgan, Alice Irene Pifer, and Keith Woods--dedicates a section to each reporter and his/her story. After each report, there is a behind-the-scenes section, wherein the reporter tells the readers how the story evolved and describes the struggles that were encountered along the way.


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?Bent Pins to Chains: Alaska and Its Newspapers? (Xlibris) gets its title from the crude pins that held together early newspapers, and the current wealthy chains that distribute newspapers worldwide. Written by historian Evangeline Atwood and Lew Williams Jr., a veteran newspaperman who founded the Alaska Newspaper Association, the book is a dense rendering of the history of Alaskan newspapers and their role in the evolution of this country.

?Bent Pins? is full of engrossing anecdotes and historical photos, which all add to the historical narrative. Much of the history is dominated by the gold rush that flooded Alaska with prospectors from the late 1800s to the turn of the century. Readers learn about the roles that local Alaskan newspapers played in their respective communities, like The Alaskan, whose 1909 owner and manager Harry Steel campaigned vigorously within his pages for such causes as the policies of President William Howard Taft to the investment of outsiders in Alaska?s economy. The book?s coverage concludes with the present day, which, in an epilogue, Williams Jr. finds quite promising thanks to the patronage of Evangeline Atwood and her husband, who helped found the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Journalism and Public Communications in the late 1970s. Through their work, Williams Jr. contends, the future of Alaskan journalism education remains strong.