About this item
Highlights
- An intimate, unvarnished look at the making of the Sunday sections of The New York Times in their pre-internet heyday, back when they shaped the country's political and cultural conversation.
- Author(s): Robert W Stock
- 252 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Personal Memoirs
Description
Book Synopsis
An intimate, unvarnished look at the making of the Sunday sections of The New York Times in their pre-internet heyday, back when they shaped the country's political and cultural conversation. Over 30 years, Robert Stock edited seven of those sections, innovating and troublemaking all the way - getting the paper sued for $1 million, locking horns with legendary editors Abe Rosenthal and Max Frankel, and publishing articles that sent the publisher Punch Sulzberger up the wall.
On one level, his memoir tracks Stock's amazing career from his elevator job at Bonwit Teller to his accidental entry into journalism to his public relations tours deep inside the aviation and oil industries to his Times years, which included the creation of a pioneering column about issues affecting the elderly.
On another level, this is a book built on stories and anecdotes, comical and deadly serious. Rod Laver challenged Stock to a tennis match. He played a clarinet duet with superstar Richard Stoltzman. A Hopi tribal chairman and a Greek archaeologist introduced him to their lost worlds. He shared a sail with music mogul Ahmet Ertegun, a Mafia-spiced brunch with Jerry Orbach, and an embarrassing moment with Jacqueline Kennedy.
From Stock's early days as an air raid bicycle messenger in Bridgeport CT... to his seat at the captain's table on the SS France...to his belated sowing of wild oats at age 45...to his stopping the presses at The New York Times...his book offers a fresh perspective on a not-that-long-ago era and industry that were, in so many ways, very different from the now.
Me and The Times should find favor among readers who enjoyed Carl Bernstein's Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom, and Adam Nagourney's The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism.
Review Quotes
Book Review 1:
"Libraries and readers seeking memoirs that are compellingly written, thought-provokingly analytical, and revealing in their examinations will find Me and The Times does not disappoint." --Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Book Review 2:
"A delightfully readable romp, from his coming of age, to his implausible Times years, to a column that transformed aging itself into a coda to his journalistic career." --Sam Roberts, veteran New York Times writer and the author of The New Yorkers.
Book Review 3:
"The New York Times during its greatest decades, told by an insider's insider, who helped make it happen. The unexpected twists in the road that landed him there make a fascinating read." --Carol Brennan, author of mystery and suspense novels including In the Dark.
Book Review 4:
"Me and The Times is a treasure chest full of keen observations of people and places told with the skill of a master wordsmith who makes his 90-odd years fly by at mach speed." --David Horwitz, founder of Media Prompt Inc., a media consulting firm.
Book Review 5:
"Along with an in-depth look behind the scenes at The New York Times before the internet intruded, this memoir offers delightful and insightful tales of travel, ranging from the RV full-timers camped in the piney woods of East Texas to the billionaire shipping families who return each summer to "renew their souls" on wondrous Greek Islands." --James R. Himes, retired senior executive of The Ford Foundation.
Book Review 6:
"In Me and The Times, the author uses his first-class narrative talent to take us on a fast and feisty ride through his years of writing and editing for multiple publications, not least The New York Times. His details and anecdotes are showstoppers, from the travels of a barrel of oil to the quirkiness of court (vs. lawn) tennis to the edginess of hours in a jammed subway car in a blackout." --Leslie Armstrong, architect and author, most recently, of Girl Intrepid.
Book Review 7:
"Robert Stock's journey is an impeccably written "don't miss" tale of following passions, follies, interests, ethics, and great news stories to the heights of professional journalism and a true insider look at what made and makes The New York Times tick." --Paula DiPerna, environmental policy advisor and author, most recently, of Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets.
Book Review 8:
"This memoir is as much an engaging book of stories as it is a chronicle of decades passed. Each chapter reads as a short story dedicated to prominent life moments of risk, defeat, or reward; combined, they read as a story of personal transformation. For those eager to see the world through the eyes and inner thoughts of others, this book is written for you." -Sanjay Saint, Chief of Medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System
Book Review 9:
"A life-long storyteller's account of a long life well lived - and the many compelling people he has worked with or written about along the way." --Tim Race, executive vice president, narrative and thought leadership, at a public relations and marketing firm.