Airhead by Emily Maitlis review – up close with Trump and the Dalai Lama

The chief presenter of BBC Newsnight vividly chronicles the pains and perils of news televisionEmily Maitlis’s book isn’t an autobiography. By the end we are none the wiser about what she was like as a child, her personal relationships or the pivotal moments that led to her becoming arguably the BBC’s sharpest interviewer and lead presenter of Newsnight. While she does devote a chapter to her experience of being stalked, Airhead is mostly a compendium of her biggest interviews with politicians, celebrities, thinkers and, in one case, an actual living god. In showing us what happens in front of the camera as well as the chaos behind it, her aim is less to tell her life story than reveal the blood, sweat and tears that go into planning and delivering the news. “Unlike print there is no room for annotation or commentary as you go along,” she writes in the introduction. “What appears on the screen is what people see. Everything else is just interpretation.”And so we accompany Maitlis as she is dispatched to Paris to cover the Bataclan terrorist attack; to Hong Kong to report on the umbrella democracy protests, and to Boone County, Iowa, for a Democratic caucus in a snow-smothered farmhouse. There are one-to-ones with Donald Trump, Tony Blair, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, the former civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal, Emma Thompson, James Comey and more, and here the presenter is able to share the build-up and comedown around each exchange. Some accounts work better than... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #simon cowell #bill clinton

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Airhead by Emily Maitlis review – up close with Trump and the Dalai Lama'

Book review: 'These Dreams of You' by Steve Erickson

In 'These Dreams of You,' Steve Erickson writes incisively and movingly about issues of family and race, but the novel goes off the rails with tangents.Zan Nordhoc's unhappy family is certainly unhappy in its own ways in Steve Erickson's new novel "These Dreams of You." For instance, in a... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #david bowie #iggy pop

Book review: 'The Escape Artists' by Noam Scheiber and 'Confidence Men' by Ron Suskind

In 'The Escape Artists' by Noam Scheiber and 'Confidence Men' by Ron Suskind, President Obama's economic recovery plan and his advisors are in the spotlight, but the books' analyses are off the mark in places.On Oct. 28 and 29, 1929, when the great crash devastated the stock market, Herbert... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #stock market #hard times

Salon du Livre closes with pledge for indies

The four-day Paris Book Fair closed on Monday (19th March) with a pledge made to defend... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Book review: 'House of Stone' by Anthony Shadid

Late New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid writes about insights gained rebuilding the war-ravaged home of his great grandfather in Lebanon in 'House of Stone.'A yearning for home, wherever that may be, is one of many themes that the late New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid so deftly... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #anthony shadid

Book review: 'Thinking the Twentieth Century' by Tony Judt and Timothy Snyder

Controversial political and social issues are examined with an intellectual passion.Thinking the Twentieth Century Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #twentieth century #timothy snyder #social issues

Book review: 'The Guardians: An Elegy' by Sarah Manguso

In reckoning with her friend's suicide, the author pulls readers into that empty space where loss and grief reside.The Guardians: An Elegy Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #sarah manguso

Book Review: 'Tinderbox' by Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin

'Tinderbox: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and the How the World Can Finally Overcome It' describes what spread the pandemic and what could rein it in.Tinderbox Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #aids epidemic

Book review: 'Reading for My Life,' essays by John Leonard

This is a brilliant collection of writings on politics, social and cultural engagement and literary life.Reading for My Life Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary life #book review

Apple, Publishers Must Address All Allegations Before E-book Case Can Be Closed, EU Says

Apple along with five ebook publishers must address all the European Commission's antitrust concerns before any settlement can be reached warned the European... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook publishers #european commission #e-book case

Book review: 'Hot Pink' by Adam Levin

This collection of short stories includes the fine 'Frankenwittgenstein,' 'Considering the Bittersweet End of Susan Falls' and uneven others.Hot Pink Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'Eisenhower in War and Peace' by Jean Edward Smith

This is a comprehensive biography of the president and an assessment of his leadership qualities on and off the battlefield.Eisenhower in War and Peace Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'Gods Without Men' by Hari Kunzru

The novel takes place across decades and tells overlapping stories as it tries to piece together a fallen world.Gods Without Men Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #hari kunzru #takes place

Book review: 'Half-Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan

In the 2011 Man Booker Prize finalist, the author has pitch-perfect voice and her jazz musician characters have rhythmic conversations.Not unlike its counterpart rock 'n' roll, memorable jazz novels occupy a pretty slim shelf at the local bookstore. Though the music has been gracefully spun into... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #half-blood blues #esi edugyan #local bookstore #roddy doyle #michael ondaatje

Slate to Begin a Monthly Review of Books

The Web magazine will publish an expanded look at books on the first Saturday of each month, as stand-alone book review sections in newspapers have dwindled. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Book review: 'Zona' by Geoff Dyer

With care and craft, the novelist and essayist seeks to summarize Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 art film 'Stalker,' finding elements that will keep the non- cinéaste onboard.Zona Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #geoff dyer

Book review: 'By Blood' by Ellen Ullman

A creepy professor eavesdrops on a woman's therapy sessions and becomes obsessed with her.By Blood Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'The Flame Alphabet' by Ben Marcus

The death of language is explored via plague-carrying children and their horror-struck parents in a wildly inventive tale by Ben Marcus.Spend too much time with 24-hour news networks and it's easy to feel that exposure to that much talk can make you sick. Taking the idea a few steps further,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #flame alphabet #ben marcus

Book review: 'Enemies: A History of the FBI' by Tim Weiner

In 'Enemies: A History of the FBI,' Tim Weiner ('Legacy of Ashes') offers a scathing indictment of the FBI, before J. Edgar Hoover and since.Each week, the FBI sends reporters an email of "top ten news stories" that it hopes will hit the headlines. The press releases usually highlight crooks... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #press releases