Archives: New York Times

Shakespeare’s appearance, Eleanor’s mastery, and Cronkite’s broadcast – plus a new book giveaway: newsletter, March 2, 2018

March 5, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | 2 Comments | Filed in: journalism, newsletter, watercolor, writing.

One of the seminal events in America’s long involvement in Vietnam occurred 50 years ago this past week. CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite — often called “the most trusted man in America” — narrated a prime-time documentary that called into question the American government’s rosy predictions about the war’s progress. Cronkite did not come out against the war. Rather, he said:

A portrait of Jackie Kennedy as a teenager, and then a lawsuit; then there’s a new biography

February 28, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, journalism.

A portrait of Jacqueline Bouvier Lee, a.k.a. Jackie Kennedy, depicting her as a teenager, has appeared in a Long Island art gallery and has sparked a federal lawsuit brought by some of her relatives. The relatives say it is stolen. The art gallery owner says it is not and that he has doubts that the • Read More »

The first real-life private eye; Neil Sheehan; more crimes against English; newsletter, Jan. 26, 2018

January 29, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: newsletter.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email (4,302) list on Friday, January 26, 2018. Hi,  Unseasonably warm weather in East Tennessee last weekend allowed us to check on the beehives, and I am happy to report that both of my hives have bees! This is good news. The biggest challenge a beekeeper has • Read More »

Don’t miss this NYT interview with Philip Roth

January 17, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, writers, writing.

Author Philip Roth, now nearly 85 and retired from writing, has given an interview to New York Times journalist Charles McGrath, and it is fascinating. Roth talks about what it was like to be a writer: Exhilaration and groaning. Frustration and freedom. Inspiration and uncertainty. Abundance and emptiness. Blazing forth and muddling through. The day-by-day • Read More »

Jeannie Rousseau, a diminutive spy and an extraordinary tale of courage

November 17, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | 1 Comment | Filed in: journalism.

She was small, too small to be a danger to anyone.  And she was attractive, a good-time girl, maybe even a little flighty. Plus, she had a talent for getting people, particularly men, to talk to her. Those traits hid her steely courage, creativity, resourcefulness—and, maybe most importantly, a photographic memory. Jeannie Rousseau was a • Read More »

Ulysses Grant: Writing and dying – in public view

October 19, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

His memoir was eagerly awaited by the public while he was still writing it. His death, for several months before it occurred, was tracked almost daily by the newspapers of the time. Both occurred at the same time in the spring and summer of 1885. For more than a century after his death, the presidency • Read More »

Smithsonian Institution’s name and unusual founding

August 17, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

The Smithsonian Institution did not start out as the “nation’s attic.” It began as the storage house for the relics and collections of a British scientist whose connection with the United States is unclear. James Smithson was born in Paris in 1765, the illegitimate son of an English duke. He obtained British citizenship but traveled • Read More »

50 years ago, Harrison Salisbury did not win the Pulitzer Prize

April 11, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: news, reporters, reporting.

[button link=”http://dl.bookfunnel.com/iygwd1dtrg” style=”tick” color=”silver” bg_color=”#adadad” border=”#080708″ window=”yes”]Free ebook: KILL THE QUARTERBACK[/button]   Fifty years ago when the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, politics — not merit — kept Harrison Salisbury from winning the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. This week’s announcement (see below) of the latest prizes brings this sad tale to mind. Salisbury was a • Read More »

Author Gene Doucette offers a lucid account of the ‘collective insanity of the publishing industry’

March 2, 2016 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: self publishing.

Fantasy Author Gene Doucette has posted one of the clearest and most lucid account of the “collective insanity” of the publishing industry to date. (Source: The collective insanity of the publishing industry – Gene Doucette) Traditional publishers are desperately fighting to maintain an economic model that in the world of ebooks, digital access and independent • Read More »

The New York Times charges for the wrong thing

May 20, 2013 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: news web sites.

Many of us would gladly pay for the New York Times. Now, with the installation of Times Select, we’re getting that chance. The Times is charging for access to its columnists, and with the subscription comes open access to its archives (a good deal). But the Times leaves its most valuable product open and free to anyone who wants to register.