Inside: The Biography of John Gunther

Cuthbertson, Ken

ISBN 10: 0929387708 / ISBN 13: 9780929387703

Published by UNKNO (edition First Edition), 1992

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Synopsis:

A biography of writer and journalist John Gunther relates how he became one of the most famous newsmen of his time with his popular "Inside" books and describes how the death of his young son led him to write the classic "Death Be Not Proud"

From Kirkus Reviews: Strong biography of talented, complex, influential journalist John Gunther (1901-70). Gunther's best-selling Inside books (beginning in 1936) were, explains Canadian freelance-writer Cuthbertson, the product of a full and sophisticated life that began in Chicago and was sharpened at that city's university. Gunther began as a fiction writer and early acquired an international point of view that allowed him to regard US phenomena with rare objectivity. Fast-track from the start, Gunther is revealed here as a man at home with world leaders, not easily controlled (though Cuthbertson notes that Gunther, unlike most journalists, shared information with the US government--and thereby gained special access to other information). Handsome and extroverted, Gunther spent the 30's in Europe watching the buildup to WW II. Living in London, Paris, Vienna, and St. Moritz, he covered stories from Moscow and Vienna to Syria and Turkey, and not only met the right people (William L. Shirer, Trotsky, H.G. Wells, Rebecca West, Maxim Gorky, etc.) but had their respect, often their friendship. Here, though, Cuthbertson never loses sight of the earthy Midwest realist. Gunther dealt in the basics. He was a formidable interviewer and got people to say things they hadn't planned on. His subject was power--who had it, what was being done with it, where it was headed. Sometimes he'd confront it, as when he wrote the first US expos‚ of Hitler, getting himself placed on a Gestapo death-list. Gunther was a powerful writer, a precursor of post-50's journalism, with a big, oracular style. In staid 1947, he described America as ``the greatest, craziest, most dangerous, least stable, most spectacular, least grown-up and most powerful nation ever known.'' A bighearted book about a big man, and an excellent antidote for those who feel shortchanged by today's journalism. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Inside: The Biography of John Gunther
Publisher: UNKNO (edition First Edition)
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition.