Reviews for News and Journalism in the U. K.: A Textbook

The average rating for News and Journalism in the U. K.: A Textbook based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-15 00:00:00 Dana Samarelli Forward Positions: The War Correspondence of Homer Bigart is a collection of Bigart's reporting beginning from before the U. S. entered World War II to after the American war in Vietnam. It's a treat to be able to read the dispatches of one of the great correspondents of the 20th century. It's also interesting to see his development as a writer; and his writing is, of course, inspirational. Bigart wrote about combat, from the front, in harms way to a great degree. Bigart's approach had much in common with that of Ernie Pyle (whom I consider to be one of the greatest nonfiction writers of the last century) but whereas Pyle wrote about the soldiers on the front line, Bigart wrote about the action on the front line. Both should still be read in J-school. Forward Positions includes introductory material and commentary which enriches the chronology. This extra material includes the legendary story about Bigart's response when he learned that his arch rival, Marguerite Higgins, had given birth: "did she eat it." Bigart was the consummate professional of his generation, winning two Pulitzer Prizes, and mentor to the journalists of Neal Sheehan's generation.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-10-24 00:00:00 Ashley Polumbo I came across references Homer Bigart's name in William Prochnau's book ONCE UPON A DISTANT WAR in which he tells the story of the travails of young reporters in Vietnam in the early years of America's involvement with corrupt Diem regime there. Bigart was something of a legend among the reporters there, a kind of iconic war correspondent. I went looking for more information on Bigart and found this book at ABE for a reasonable price. In this volume Betsy White has compiled selected stories that Bigart filed from Europe during the WWII, from Greece and the Middle East, from Korea and from his final assignment in Vietnam. This was book #33 on our 2016 Read-aloud list.