Reporter

Starred review from April 2, 2018
The legendary investigative journalist for the New York Times and the New Yorker recalls his struggles to uncover government secrets—and get them printed—in this powerful memoir. Hersh recounts his career unearthing epochal stories, from the 1968 massacre of Vietnamese civilians by American troops at My Lai and Watergate revelations to abuses at the Abu Ghraib military prison during the Iraq War. There’s gripping journalistic intrigue aplenty as he susses out sources and documents, fences with officials, and fields death threats. His pursuit of My Lai perpetrator William Calley, which saw him barking bogus orders at soldiers and crawling through a Fort Benning barracks, feels like a Hollywood thriller. Almost as arduous are his efforts to get nervous editors to run incendiary articles while he navigated byzantine newsroom politics, especially his testy relationship with Times chief Abe Rosenthal, who emerges as a hybrid of courage and timidity. Along the way, Hersh paints pungent sketches of everyone from Henry Kissinger (“the man lied the way most people breathed”) to the “ass-kissing coterie of moronic editors” at the Times who watered down a piece on corporate skulduggery. Hersh himself is brash and direct, but never cynical, and his memoir is as riveting as the great journalistic exposés he produced. Photos. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

April 1, 2018
One of the most skilled investigative journalists in American history shares his saga in compelling detail.Hersh (The Killing of Osama bin Laden, 2016, etc.), who has won seemingly every major literary award and is often portrayed as gruffly relentless, shows his charming side as he recounts his Chicago childhood with a small-businessman father, a quietly supportive mother, and three siblings--a twin brother and twin sisters. A quick learner with a restless curiosity, Hersh began and abandoned several career paths while attending college. He slipped into a low-paying, unglamorous journalism job in Chicago, departed and returned to that career path several times, and then needed to figure out what to do after completing "six months as a grunt in the U.S. Army," which "was not a transformative experience." The city boy became a rural journalist in South Dakota, where his reporting initiative led to a book about controversial chemical and biological weapons, freelance investigative exposés about massacres of Vietnamese civilians by American troops (reporting that led to his Pulitzer Prize in 1970), and, in 1972, a position at the New York Times as a reporter with the Washington bureau. Hersh takes readers behind the scenes as he exposes corrupt U.S. foreign policy, Defense Department bumbling in numerous wars, political coverups during Watergate, private sector corporate scandals, and torture tactics used by the U.S. government against alleged terrorists after 9/11. The author shares insightful (and sometimes searing) anecdotes about fellow journalists, presidents and their cronies, military generals, and numerous celebrities. Readers interested in a primer about investigative techniques will find Hersh a generous teacher. He explains why he tends to be a loner, zigging when other journalists are zagging. Hersh discloses little about his wife and children, but otherwise, candor is the driving force in this outstanding book.Rarely has a journalist's memoir come together so well, with admirable measures of self-deprecation, transparent pride, readable prose style, and honesty.

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Starred review from April 15, 2018
Perhaps he had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Perhaps it was his reporter's well-honed instinct for a great story. Whatever the reason, Hersh became a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, garnering a reputation for uncompromising adherence to truth and tireless quest for accountability in the often duplicitous realms of national security and politics. Hersh's persistent reporting peeled back the veneers masking some of the most controversial issues of our time, from the Vietnam War massacre at My Lai to the Iraq War military atrocities at Abu Ghraib. In this candid and revelatory memoir, Hersh chronicles his evolution as a reporter in both style and substance, focusing on his dogged pursuit of leads, nuanced cultivation of reliable resources, and often fraught relationship with editors, colleagues, and critics. Compared to the contemporary field of blogs, bots, and opinion-driven reportage, the last half of the twentieth-century can look like the heyday of honest and critical journalism. But Hersh remains at the vanguard of tenacious and purposeful writers who speak truth to power, and surely he's inspiring the best at work now. Journalism junkies will devour this insider's account of a distinguished career.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2018

Recounting the story behind the story, running on conviction and sheer stubbornness, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hersh's investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops in South Vietnam and the case against army officer William Calley Jr. often reads like a case study in how to write a political thriller. Between racing through military training camps, hand-copying files, and fighting skeptics, Hersh's account reveals the level of persistence that drives award-winning journalism. Going beyond the business of news, Hersh offers an insider look at Washington politics, recounting the people (Kissinger, Nixon) and events (Vietnam, Watergate) that put his stories on the front page, ending with a review of the War on Terror and reporting post-9/11. As Hersh notes, he is a "survivor from the golden age of journalism." VERDICT A fascinating look at an era when quality reporting was the result of will and determination (and knowing the right contacts). An excellent choice for readers interested in late 20th-century politics.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib., Miami

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018

Since winning the Pulitzer Prize for revealing the massacre in My Lai, Vietnam, Hersh has circled the globe to tackle the tough stories, winning five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards, and more. Now here are the stories behind the stories, to show how reporting works.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.