On Tuesday, Donald Rumsfeld—who, as defense secretary under George W. Bush, was a driving force behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—died. Major outlets wheeled out pre-written obituaries. The AP’s, by Robert Burns, bordered on hagiography. Its headline initially declared Rumsfeld “a cunning leader undermined by Iraq war”; that language was later changed to “cunning leader who oversaw a ruinous Iraq war,” but the opening paragraph still says that “try as he might,” Rumsfeld “could not outmaneuver the ruinous politics of the Iraq war,” as if he had been forced to play chess against a supercomputer. The Iraqi death toll from the war is not noted; the American death toll is—but not before Rumsfeld’s charitable work on behalf of veterans, his “accomplished” college wrestling career, and colleagues’ recollections of his smarts and patriotism. The first words of the article’s URL are “Chicago Bears,” a reference to the football team Rumsfeld supported as a kid. Because the AP is a wire service, the obituary was republished widely. Other prominent efforts were better, but did not adequately foreground the human cost of Rumsfeld’s military aggression: The New York Times addressed Iraq only after mentioning the records he broke as defense secretary (he was the youngest person in that post, under Gerald Ford, then the oldest, under Bush) and his reputation as a “combative infighter” who challenged “military orthodoxies.” The Washington Post described him as “controversial,” but... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-02 12:32:38 UTC ]
A memoir by the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo Marx's widow, finally comes to light 20 years after her death. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-21 13:39:48 UTC ]
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Chris Belcher’s searing memoir about her work as a professional dominatrix isn’t exactly a comfortable read. Not because of the subject, but because Pretty Baby asks more of the reader than many memoirs. Like the best art does, this book invites introspection and interrogation of both our own... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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How language shapes emotion across cultures. | Lit Hub Science Baynard Woods reflects on how writing a book forced him to confront the many lies of whiteness. | Lit Hub Memoir How do you begin to write a novel about 6th-century Londinium, the “darkest corner of the Dark Ages”? | Lit Hub History... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 10:30:12 UTC ]
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Journalist and super fan Danyel Smith champions the role of Black women in pop music in “Shine Bright,” which combines memoir with music history. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-07-18 19:10:00 UTC ]
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Erika L. Sánchez's insightful memoir might not resonate with the easily offended. But those looking for an unfiltered, feel-good story will find it here. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Isaac Fitzgerald’s “Dirtbag, Massachusetts” is a memoir about male misbehavior and the struggle to make sense of oneself. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-16 09:00:11 UTC ]
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“I was still an English Learner, for crying out loud; how could I ever imagine working in the movie industry?” How rummaging through Oliver Stone’s home office allowed a young Rafael Agustín to dream big. | Lit Hub Memoir If “empathy towards other species and toward nature is the only way out of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-15 10:30:12 UTC ]
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Insiders say outgoing prime minister unlikely to write about personal life but book deal possible this autumnBoris Johnson could be paid more than £1m for his memoir, according to publishing insiders. But anyone expecting a kiss-and-tell may be disappointed, as industry professionals have said... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-15 10:12:09 UTC ]
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"Writing my memoir essentially gave me the confidence that I could write fiction." The post Surrounded by Choice: The Millions Interviews Sopan Deb appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-07-15 10:00:16 UTC ]
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HarperCollins wins a British crime thriller debut, Gallery takes on a memoir by a former Scientologist, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lindy Elkins-Tanton, lead scientist for NASA’s Psyche mission, describes challenges and successes in “A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-07-14 20:06:29 UTC ]
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The 'Dirty Dancing' star discusses the upcoming sequel, her memoir and the Supreme Court's 'fundamentally wrong' abortion ruling. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-14 14:00:17 UTC ]
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When CJ Hauser published “The Crane Wife” in The Paris Review, an essay about repressing her needs in a relationship, calling off a wedding, and going to study whooping cranes on the Gulf Coast, it quickly became a viral hit. Three years later, her 17-piece memoir in essays of the same name... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-14 11:00:00 UTC ]
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How Josephine Baker transformed from dancer to spy. | Lit Hub History “Although they’d been dead for 30 years, I was writing their story in a taut, blow-by-blow replay as the noose of Jones’s madness pulled tighter and tighter.” Julia Scheeres on the harrowing experience of writing about the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-13 10:30:04 UTC ]
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Too much work, too little money, and career decisions made in response to health care precarity: this is the reality of people with disabilities in book publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House buys a memoir about alcoholism and family, and Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor sells a historical trilogy to Europa. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Rafael Agustin dishes about "Illegally Yours," his candid new memoir about a childhood without documents, and the TV pilot that never made it. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-07 13:00:42 UTC ]
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“I grew up working class and money was a factor in everything we did,” says the poet and novelist, whose new book is the memoir “Crying in the Bathroom.” “That’s why I always write about the financial realities of my characters.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-07 09:00:11 UTC ]
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"The Pallbearers Club" is presented as a found memoir manuscript, complicated by the contradictory annotation of an enigmatic woman. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-04 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Dive into a tender coming-of-age memoir by Isaac Fitzgerald, a biography of Vladimir V. Putin and novels from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Bolu Babalola and Daniel Nieh. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-30 09:00:24 UTC ]
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