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Summary
Summary
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
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Following his bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Growing Up , 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. BOMC alternate. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The sequel by New York Times' humorist Baker to his 1982 autobiography, Growing Up; and while not quite as poignant as that Pulitzer Prize-winning chronicle of a Depression boyhood, Baker's honest self-awareness makes this second volume a winner. Here, Baker traces his sojourn through the newspaper business--from 12-year-old newsboy delivering the Baltimore Sun to reporter for the John Hopkins Univ. paper to police reporter for the Sun; from Sun rewrite man to their London bureau chief to their White House correspondent; from fortuitous discovery by Scott Reston of the Times to Washington bureau chief for that prestigious paper to, finally, relief from the boredom of waiting for events to report via his ""Observer"" column on the Op-Ed page. As in the previous volume, Baker's mother is always in the shadows here, her bromides (""Make something of yourself. . .don't be a quitter. . .you'll never get anywhere in this world unless you've got ambition"") enough to wake him up in the middle of the night--and to leave him never satisfied with the status quo. Baker's strength is in his self-deflating style that sees personal triumphs as lucky breaks and occasions for sweaty palms or worrying over what spoon to use for his soup. He offers a slew of amusing anecdotes, including a patronizing (and then senator) LBJ phoning Baker, new in D.C., to tell him that ""for you, Russ, I'd leak like a sieve""; or LBJ, while on the phone to Baker, sending a note to LBJ's secretary asking, ""Who is this I'm talking to?"" A wonderful book, and one that--since it leaves off with the birth of Baker's column in 1961--promises yet another sequel. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
This is a sequel to Baker's Pulitzer Prize-winning Growing Up ( LJ 10/1/82). Here, he wryly recounts the mischances and lucky breaks that have guided his journalism career. 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. Baker comes to realize his forte is thoughtful and satiric observations rather than scoops, and in this book and in his ``Observer'' columns for the New York Times , he proves he is right. The vibrant personalities of Baker's wife and mother, featured prominently in Growing Up, get short shrift here, although Baker notes that his mother's constant refrain of ``If there's one thing I can't stand, Russell, it's a quitter,'' has been the propelling force of his life. This should be popular with general readers and especially those interested in journalism.-- Judy Quinn, ``Library Journal'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
