Somebody's Gotta Tell It; The Upbeat Memoir of a Working-Class Journalist
Janie Eisenberg (Jacket photograph) New York, N.Y. St. Martin's Press, 2002. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xii, [4], 336 pages. Illustrations. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper. DJ has minor wear and soiling. Includes Acknowledgments, Coda, and Index. Chapters cover A State of Mind Called Brooklyn, 1955; A Child of Jackie Robinson; The Making of an Activist; A Guilty Pleasure; Village Voices; Crossing the Line: Robert Kennedy, Part 1; Touching the Extremes: Robert Kennedy, Part 11; The Space Left by King; The Neighborhood Code Gets Tested; and The Post Mutiny. Jack Abraham Newfield (February 18, 1938 – December 21, 2004) was an American journalist, columnist, author, documentary filmmaker and activist. Newfield wrote for the Village Voice, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Sun, New York Magazine, Parade Magazine, Tikkun, Mother Jones, and The Nation and monthly columns for several labor union newspapers. In his autobiography, Somebody's Gotta Tell It: The Upbeat Memoir of a Working-Class Journalist, Newfield said, "The point is not to confuse objectivity with truth." A career beat reporter, Newfield wrote prolifically about modern society, culture, and politics, on a range of topics relevant to urban life, such as municipal corruption, the police, and labor unions, and also professional sports, especially baseball and boxing, as well as contemporary music. He wrote numerous books about modern social and political subjects, including A Prophetic Minority (1966) and Robert Kennedy: A Memoir. (1969). He received the American Book Award for The Full Rudy: The Man, the Myth, the Mania about New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Jack Newfield believes that a journalist's beat is the hard news: say what needs to be said and make it stick. He has spent over forty years putting his beliefs on the line and into print. He has opened cans of worms, sung the praises of the unsung, exposed bullies and cheats, and told us what it was like to watch history being made from the inside. Newfield both played a part in and documented the unfolding drama of the 1960s, its idealism and betrayals, its soaring hopes and crushing tragedies. He picketed, sang, marched, and wrote about it all. After the assassinations of King and Kennedy, and the disastrous 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago, Newfield turned his attention from national issues to New York City. This book is the work of a journalist and a man whose passion for his profession and love for his country have never faltered, though they have led him to ask tough questions. Newfield captures the sweep of the nation's story over the last half-century, giving us indelible portraits of the personalities that have driven it. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: New York Post writer Newfield's life story: a blue-collar boy grows up in Dodgers-era Brooklyn, attends public school and the tuition-free City University, rallies with civil rights heroes in the 1960s and '70s and slugs his way up the ladder to become a reporter who works for everyman. Many will be enraptured by Newfield's honest recounting of his worthy contribution to American journalism. In straight-ahead, journalistic prose, Newfield recalls his childhood in New York City, citing experiences that will resonate with many readers: fearing the street gangs that ruled the lunchroom; the enormous impact of Jackie Robinson; reading Murray Kempton's columns on Martin Luther King Jr. in the then-liberal New York Post. Newfield then moves on to his college career, explaining why he became a journalist and describing his mentor, another champion of the underdog, Michael Harrington. Newfield chronicles his experiences with Students for a Democratic Society in the early '60s, regrets his decision not to speak out against the pro-drug stories at the Village Voice, where he wrote for years, and tells readers what it was like to be a 28-year-old writing a biography of Robert Kennedy. Throughout, his wide-eyed enthusiasm prevails, while his conscious understanding of a journalist's responsibility inspires. This memoir serves as a tribute to New Yorkers and reporters alike. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Journalists, Brooklyn, Jackie Robinson, Activist, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jimmy Breslin, Civil Rights, Mario Cuomo, Pete Hamill, Tom Hayden, Nat Hentoff, Abe Herschfeld, Norman Mailer, Mike Tyson, Jose Torres, Yippie, Janie Eisenberg, Mic
ISBN: 0312269005
[Book #82290]
Price: $125.00