Looking Back

by Russell Baker

From his youthful days as a delivery boy for William Randolph Hearst’s Baltimore newspapers through his many years as a journalist and commentator, Russell Baker has been a keen observer of American politics and culture. Now, in these eleven essays, all originally published in The New York Review of Books , he looks back on a group of iconic public figures from his own past.

Profiled here are presidents (Lyndon Johnson feuding with Robert F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon in his grasping, spectral exile), would-be presidents (Eugene V. Debs and Barry Goldwater, “gentlemen fallen among brutes”), and those who set their sights on something besides the presidency (Joe DiMaggio, and Martin Luther King, “the one indisputably great American of the century’s second half”).

Undeluded by the roar of what he calls “our national engines of ballyhoo, bushwah, and baloney,” Russell Baker reflects on the strange fascination that these larger-than-life characters have held for the American imagination. With an elegiac yet shrewd sense of their accomplishments both enduring and ephemeral, he traces the impressions they left on twentieth-century America—and on him.

Genres: History

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

On August 14, 1925, US journalist, humorist and biographer Russell Baker was born in Loudoun County, Virginia. His father died early on and his hard-working mother reared him and his sisters during the Great Depression. Baker managed to get himself into Johns Hopkins University, where he studied journalism.

Baker’s wit as a humorist has been compared with that of Mark Twain. “The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer,” wrote Baker, “and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any.” In 1979, Baker received his first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in his “Observer” column for the New York Times (1962 to 1998). His 1983 autobiography, Growing Up earned him a second Pulitzer. In 1993, Baker began hosting the PBS television series Masterpiece Theatre.

Neil Postman, in the preface to Conscientious Objections, describes Baker as "like some fourth century citizen of Rome who is amused and intrigued by the Empire's collapse but who still cares enough to mock the stupidities that are hastening its end. He is, in my opinion, a precious national resource, and as long as he does not get his own television show, America will remain stronger than Russia." (1991, xii)

Reviews

[Dave Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about books. Particularly good chapters: 2 "A Boy's Life" about William Randolph Hearst; 6 "Where Has Joe Gone?" about Joe Dimaggio; and 9 "Mr. Right" about Barry Goldwater.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of eleven book reviews Baker wrote for the New York Times. He writes of the inside politics of JFK, the mutual hatred of Bobby Kennedy and Lydon Johnson, LBJ's stubborn refusal to get out of Viet Nam, the manipulations of a very dangerous Herbert Hoover, the dangerous paranoia of Richard Nixon, the indecisiveness of Barry Goldwater and the life of the newspaper millionaire William Randolph Hearst.

The most striking chapter was the one regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Calling him the best and the bravest, Baker states that King was "probably the one indisputable great American of the century's second half."

Recommended for those interested in a snap shot of American history.

[Aaron Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a fun look at some of the characters important in the 19th century. Because the book was a collection of book reviews Baker wrote, I found myself missing context to really understand a few people, but enjoyed learning more about the likes of Nixon, Joe DiMaggio, Barry Goldwater, the Kennedy's.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging, erudite and illuminating compilation of essays from the New York Review.

[Al Maki · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 20th century the US was gifted with a large number of excellent writers who were also reporters and Baker was one of them. This is a good collection of pieces.