Hot Type, Cold Beer and Bad News: A Cleveland Reporter’s Journey Through the 1960s

by Michael D. Roberts

The 1960s were the most turbulent era in Cleveland history--and an exciting time to be a newspaper reporter. This memoir takes you back to the tumult. It's an eyewitness account by a veteran journalist who, as an ambitious young reporter, covered the major events of the day: civil rights violence, corruption and crime, Vietnam, Kent State, and more. Cleveland was already changing by the beginning of the 1960s. Racial unrest, migration to the suburbs and the decline of its once-mighty industrial base reshaped the city's politics and population. Cleveland found itself at the forefront of social upheaval that would sweep the nation and alter America. In those days, a journalist could find a story that reflected the times down the street or around the world. Reporting for the Plain Dealer, Michael D. Roberts covered a decade of destruction, death and dissension--from the riots on Cleveland's East Side to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the aftermath of the Six-Day War in the Middle East and the tragedy of the Kent State shootings. There were enlightened moments, too. For a good part of that decade the eyes of the nation were on Cleveland, watching whether it would elect the first African American mayor of a major American city. It did, in Carl B. Stokes. It was also the last golden hour of print newspapers--although they didn't know it yet. Technology had not yet altered the business. All a journalist needed was a pen, a notebook, a typewriter, a pay phone and a pocketful of change. Television was only just beginning to make a serious impact on news reporting. Newspapers were a unifying force in communities, a friendly visitor that arrived on your doorstop every day. But by decade's end, the spirit of revolt would come to haunt the newspaper and pluck both the verve and the soul from it. For a reporter in search of a big story, though, bad times were also the best of times. This is the way it was.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published November 20, 2018

Reviews

[Bickety Bam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Michael D. Roberts' memoir of his years as a journalist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I was quite young during the time of the events described and the book gave me a better perspective not just on my town, but my country and the world during the 1960s. I also grew up with the Cleveland Plain Dealer being my family's daily paper and Roberts' insights help to explain at least partly why, in our white suburban world, we had little idea what was brewing even in our neighboring city. It helps explain a lot about how the US got to where it is today, too.

If you are interested in journalism or history of the 20th century or grew up in Cleveland, you might like this book.

[Nancy Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for those interested in old-fashioned newspaper journalism and Cleveland history.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, being the right age to remember most of the news of the times made it very interesting and gave me more back-story. I loved hearing and feeling the reporter point of view.
The only thing I didn't like was near the end when Mr. Roberts is looking back on past work relationships and it seems like he holds grudges and has to get a few digs in.

Maybe the work environment was horrible and he just had to say what he had to say. It doesn't take away from the book and I do really recommend it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll own the fact that I'm partial to books about or set in Northeast Ohio being a native, but partialness aside this is an incredible book. The author can write. He knows how to take you through events of the past, communicate what was happening in the city or the world at that time, and make things interesting. I think he did a good job of capturing the spirit of Cleveland, and also helped us understand newspapers as they were in the 1960s, and how they've changed so dramatically in the past 50 years.

This is a pretty quick read and I was sad to finish it so soon. I'll definitely read his other book which he co-authored shortly after the Kent State shooting, and hope that he'll write more books.

[Ryan Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are tales from the newspaper past. Focusing on the adult world of the 1960s. not the kid's pop entertainment world of the 1960s. At first the proliferation of broadcast television allowed newspapers to distinguish themselves by writing more in-depth stories. But this was when people watched half an hour of tv news a few times a week.

[Ed Mahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read in a long time. BTW I've only read the book once, not sure why it indicates I read it twice.