Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists

by Sam Riley

Overview

Newspaper columnists entertain and inform millions of readers each day, yet their lives and careers have received relatively little attention. This reference offers concise career profiles of some 600 columnists who write or have written for U.S. newspapers. It contains entries for all the giants in the field, plus other syndicated, self-syndicated, and local columnists. Included are columnists who have written on politics, humor, and topics of general interest.

What newspaper columnists have won the Nobel Peace Prize? What political columnist later became president of ABC-TV? What New York Times columnist won an unprecedented four Pulitzer prizes? This reference offers concise profiles of some 600 columnists who write or have written for U.S. newspapers. Included is a wealth of information about these influential writers who inform and entertain millions of Americans each day.

The volume contains entries for the giants in the field, plus other syndicated, self-syndicated, and local columnists. Included are columnists, living or dead, whose works contain fairly general reading matter, including politics and humor. Excluded are those who write columns on specialized topics, such as gardening, bridge, computers, and health. Entries are arranged alphabetically and show how these individuals became columnists and what later career paths many of them followed. When possible, entries conclude with bibliographies of works by and about the columnists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313291920
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/06/1995
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.94(d)
Lexile:	1080L (what's this?)

About the Author

SAM G. RILEY is Professor of Communication Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His previous books include The Best of the Rest: Non-Syndicated Newspaper Columnists Select Their Best Work (1993), Consumer Magazines of the British Isles (1993), Corporate Magazines of the United States (1992), Regional Interest Magazines of the United States (1990), Index to City and Regional Magazines (1989), Magazines of the American South (1986), and Index to Southern Periodicals (1986), all published by Greenwood Press.

Table of Contents

Preface
American Newspaper Columnists
Selected Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Provides concise biographical sketches of 600 columnists from when the practice began during the Civil War era to the present. Includes their dates, education, who they wrote for and when, other publications, and the nature of their columns. Pen names are listed in the index with a reference to the entry under their legal name. Includes people like Eric Sevareid who are better known for other work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Newspaper columnists hold an influential place in American society, informing and entertaining millions of readers daily around the country. Riley's dictionary provides information on 600 columnists who have written for U.S. newspapers from "the time men and women having this job description appeared in the U.S. papers in the Civil War to the present. The book's preface explains the author's criteria for selection. The giants of the field--the Nobel and Pulitzer winners, for example--are covered, as are local and self-syndicated columnists. "The selection of columnists," Riley explains, "was limited to those whose subject matter is of relatively general interest: political and humor columnists, plus those who variously describe their jobs as 'personal columnist,' 'op-ed columnist,' or 'general columnist.'" So excluded from this dictionary are those who write on specialized topics, such as health, computers, and gardening. Further, the compiler has interpreted the term "American newspaper columnist" loosely, for included are several foreigners, such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Carlos Fuentes, whose work has appeared in U.S. newspapers The profiles are arranged alphabetically by surname and contain birth and death dates, a statement of the columnist's principal accomplishments, place of birth, education, a career summary, information about the nature of the column, a list of the earliest editions of all known books authored or edited by the columnist, and references to books about the columnist. For columnists who wrote under a pen name (e.g., Eppie Lederer as Ann Landers), the entry appears under the actual name with references provided from the pen name in the index. Entries run from three to four lines for lesser-known columnists to more than 50 lines for the famous and are factual in content, with no effort by the compiler to explain the impact of the columnist's writing on American society. The selected bibliography is arranged by author and consists of books used in the dictionary's compilation. Riley is a professor of communications studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and has previously published several reference books on journalism for Greenwood Two volumes in Gale's Dictionary of Literary Biography series, "American Newspaper Journalists", cover from 1690 to 1960 ["RBB" N 15 94]. Entries there are much longer than in this new book, but the series covers all sorts of journalists, not just columnists, and doesn't extend to contemporary columnists. This new work contains useful information on many journalists who are not included in the standard biographical dictionaries and so will be useful to students and scholars interested in the history of mass communications. Recommended for academic and research libraries.

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