Get the Damn Story

Homer Bigart and the Great Age of American Newspapers

Thomas W. Lippman

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781647122973
• eBook ISBN:
  9781647122980
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Journalist Biographies

<p><b>The captivating story of an influential journalist demonstrates the value of a free press to democratic society</b></p><p>In the decades between the Great Depression and the advent of cable television, when daily newspapers set the conversational agenda in the United States, the best reporter in the business was a rumpled, hard-drinking figure named Homer Bigart. Despite two Pulitzers and a host of other prizes, he quickly faded from public view after retirement. Few today know the extent to which he was esteemed by his peers.

<I>Get the Damn Story</I> is the first comprehensive biography to encompass all of Bigart’s journalism, including both his war reporting and coverage of domestic events. Writing for the <I>New York Herald Tribune </I>and the<I> New York Times</I>, Bigart brought to life many events that defined the era—the wars in Europe, the Pacific, Korea, and Vietnam; the civil rights movement; the creation of Israel; the end of colonialism in Africa; and the Cuban Revolution.

The news media’s collective credibility may have diminished in the age of Twitter, but Bigart’s career demonstrates the value to a democratic society of a relentless, inquiring mind examining its institutions and the people who run them. The principle remains the same today: the truth matters. Historians and journalists alike will find Bigart’s story well worth reading.</p>

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• A Few Words of Gratitude
• Introduction
• 1 From Small Town to Gotham
• 2 Homer Bigart Goes to War
• 3 The Italian Campaign
• 4 The Pacific and the Bomb
• 5 Cold War, Tough Calls
• 6 Two Wars in Korea
• 7 The Red Menace at Home and Abroad
• 8 Leaving the Sinking Ship
• 9 Cuba, Congo, and Cannibals
• 10 Reality Check in Vietnam
• 11 The Great Strike and a New Alice
• 12 Civil Rights in Many Forms
• 13 The Long Roads End
• Epilogue: What Would Homer Do?
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors