American Radical: The Life and Times of I. F. Stone Book

I first read about "Izzy" sometime during the 1970s, where I'm not sure, perhaps in an article in The New York Review of Book. I found his left-wing but independent non-sectarianism to attractive. I think by the time I learned about him, he had stopped publishing investigative newsletter.

My impression of his work was that he was an investigative reporter, who unlike many of his peers, was largely an outsider who did not cultivate sources in government (or wherever he was covering at the time.) This biography reinforces that impression of his work in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, what I wasn't aware of was how connected he was earlier in his life when he was a newspaper reporter and editorial writer. He worked for several mainstream newspapers and appeared on Meet The Press and other programs. His career took a different path in the 1950s, when after losing his passport and being the target of an FBI investigation, he decided to start his newsletter.

This book is more than just a story about one independent journalist. It also describes the period and provides a good context of his time (Thus I supposed the title Life and Times of I.F. Stone.)

On a more personal note, I enjoyed reading about his childhood in Philadelphia, where I lived for five years and Haddonfield, NJ, where I have stayed with friends a few times.