Land of Giants

by Steve López

The best of Steve Lopez's Inquirer columns are now together in a wonderful book. Now you can share Steve's refreshingly candid views in one volume. See for yourself why his readers love him and his targets wish he were almost anywhere else. One of the guiding principles of the column for Steve Lopez is: "H. L. Mencken once described his mission as a journalist this way: Confort the afflicted, afflict the confortable. Obviously, my goal hasn't been that noble, or even close to it. Sometimes the idea was just to tell a story, or have some fun. But the Mecken line has been something of a guiding principle for me. So has the idea that a column be a tool against ignorance and hyprocrisy, whether written from a street corner in Philadelphia, the halls of Congress, or a battlefield in Bosnia. Part of what a column should do, it seems to me, is hold people up to their potential. To remind them not just what it is, but what can be."

Genres: Nonfiction

223 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1995

About the author

Steven M. López (born 1953) is an American journalist who has been a columnist for The Los Ángeles Times since 2001. He is the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good time travel to the past. I very much enjoyed these columns when they ran in the Inquirer.

[Anthony SanFilippo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Lopez was my idol growing up.

He was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he pulled no punches when it came to his subjects.

But he did something that in journalism is frowned upon...

He wrote in the first person often, and he wrote conversationally.

I tried to model my writing after him from Day One.

Heck, if your a good storyteller, people will listen. Even if it's in print. So, why not write as you speak?

It's got me where I am today and I have no plans on changing how I write, no matter who criticizes (and believe me, there's been just as much criticism as there has been praise!)

Anyway, in Land of Giants, Lopez's best columns from his days at the Inquirer are reprinted.

Read one, and you'll be hooked.

Also, check out his other works - they're equally as brilliant.

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Lopez was a Columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 80's and 90's. Very quick witted, he gave Philadelphia politicins a run for their money. A good trip down memory lane. It struck me that as bad as we think things are now, the same stuff was going on then ... Some measure of comfort in that or down right depressing?

[Amaris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish such a hilarious, acerbic columnist still was writing for the Inky. No better way to tell truth to power than to make your readers bust a gut laughing one day and move your readers to tears another day.

[house targaryen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not familiar with the names and faces behind government corruption in Philadelphia in the 80's and therefore did not really get into this book. Abandoned it halfway through. Seems like a really exciting time and lots of wrongdoing was exposed, but I couldn't get into it personally.

[Larry Berthold · Rating 5 out of 5]

a treasure of commentary and humanity.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve wrote about the reality of Philadelphia. He focused on the AIDS community and brought his friendship and compassion to my family. If you read carefully, one of those columns is included.