American Berserk: A Cub Reporter, a Small-Town Daily, the Schizo '70s

by Bill Morris

After publishing his third novel, Motor City Burning (Pegasus Books, 2014), Bill Morris turned his attention to researching, remembering and reliving some of the spectacularly lurid stories he covered in Chambersburg nearly forty years ago. These included arson, rape, murder, kidnapping, attempted suicide, the paranormal, prison breaks - all of it leavened by the more prosaic aspects of life in a picturesque small town in central Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley. He has now collected his memories - along with explorations into the slippery nature of memory - in a non-fiction book he's called American Berserk: A Cub Reporter, a Small-Town Daily, the Schizo '70s.

Genres: Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Born in 1952.

Reviews

[Dorianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Morris's book American Berserk is the perfect read for fans of books about journalism. There are interesting stories about Mennonites living in a soap opera, a petty criminal who keeps escaping prison turned cop killer, and a self-proclaimed psychic who helped solve a gruesome cold case.

Bill Morris is at times prone to navel gazing, and the beginning of this book had me wondering if I was going to be stuck with the dude version of Eat, Pray Love: Super Awesome White Man Journalist Edition. But one you get passed that rough patch, his love for reporting the "Little People" and musings about memory is an excellent work of non-fiction.

*ARC received by Netgalley*

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 14%.

Ugh, self-centered white guy memoir.