First published 2024
Calvin Trillin turns his sharp eye on the press itself in this collection spanning his six decade career. The veteran New Yorker writer examines American journalism from multiple angles, drawing from his work at Time covering civil rights and his comic verse for The Nation. Trillin profiles a legendary Miami crime reporter, a swashbuckling New York Times journalist, and a Dallas film critic who weekly transformed from French nouvelle vague appreciator to crude movie reviewer. He explores a press baron's House of Lords ambitions, Russia's shortage of gossip columns, a weekly newspaper caught in a missing person investigation, and the creation of Beautiful A Magazine of Parking. Through reportage mixed with humor, Trillin captures the characters and contradictions that define American media culture.
Genres: american, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: humorous, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, reportage
Setting: Miami, New York, Dallas, Russia
Period: Six Decade Career
336 pages · Hardcover · Random House