A thrilling and inspiring tale of journalistic dedication.
In this nonfiction book, a journalist examines the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Wall Street Journal and the newspaper’s efforts to publish the following day.
When the World Trade Center was destroyed on 9/11, the offices of the Journal, located just across the street, were torn asunder as well, absorbing a “near-fatal blow.” The fog of chaos was formidable—while many staffers hadn’t arrived for work yet, others needed to be evacuated. Paul Steiger, the paper’s “journalistic North Star,” was incommunicado for so many hours that many presumed he was dead. Besides the fight for survival, the paper’s staff responded valiantly to the “palpable” pressure to make its routine deadlines and print an edition the next day, keeping its understandably anxious readers informed. Rotbart, a former Journal reporter and columnist, pieces together a collection of narrative vignettes that tell the story of that day’s grim struggle, filled with fear, sadness, and extraordinary courage. The affecting account includes a wide range of perspectives, from the paper’s well-known luminaries like Steiger, Bob Bartley, and Paul Gigot to the “small battalion of unheralded journalists.” Amazingly, the paper was successfully printed, a feat that required a large organization with considerable internal fissures to achieve a unity of purpose: “On September 11 and early September 12, all of those quarrels were set aside for a fleeting moment. America had come under attack, and, as never before, the extended network of Wall Street Journal employees and contractors, union and non-union alike, were of one mind.” The author paints a moving tableau of journalists torn between their familial obligations and their professional ones as well as shaken by fear. Some acted heroically—John C. Bussey, a foreign editor, defied orders to evacuate the stricken building because he was so dedicated to doing his job. This is a remarkable testament to the valor of the paper’s staff and a poignant picture of journalism at its heights.
A thrilling and inspiring tale of journalistic dedication.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73448-417-5
Page Count: 311
Publisher: TJFR Publishing Co
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: tomorrow
SEEN & HEARD
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