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Albert Londres: Vie et mort d'un grand reporter, 1884-1932
Rare Book
- GenresNonfiction
638 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Pierre Assouline
91 books54 followersPierre Assouline is a French author and journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2024
"Purée mon cochon, je l'ai enfin fini, bah c'était pas gagné !" Voilà ce que je me suis dis en lisant la dernière ligne. C'est un livre très (trop) complet sur le père du grand reportage et les évènements qui ont marqué ses choix et sa vie. Jeune, Albert Londres était un exemple pour moi, un idéal. Être un(e) journaliste, c'était devenir Albert Londres. Après avoir lu ce livre, je me dit que ca aurait été incroyable de devenir une femme comme lui. Je ne serai pas Albert Londres mais je suis contente d'avoir autant appris sur lui.
August 16, 2020
Le temps, où les reporters journalistes, faisaient vraiment leur métier.
September 14, 2025
There is something of Dickens in the character of Albert Londres. His physical appearance is reminiscent of the Inimitable. His pen, alert and timely, is "dipped in the wound" of events.
British officials made no mistake in appointing him, on behalf of King George V, an Honorary Officer of the British Empire, in recognition of his campaign as a war reporter on the front from 1914 to 1918. But in absentia, as Albert was, on 20 March 1920, on other fronts.
Like Dickens, Albert Londres seems to wander around in search of the key idea of an article. Armed with his pen and his notebooks, flanked by his mythical old suitcase, he is "the man who leaves" and makes friends everywhere and takes advantage of any possible connection.
He was more fascinated by people than by ideas, more interested in tastes than in theories, observed Pierre Assouline. But very quickly he was caught up in the tragic realities of the world and, not without a salutary irony, he denounced injustice and suffering to the four winds of public opinion. He attacked the penal colony of Cayenne, the psychiatric hospitals of sinister memory and the harsh conditions imposed on riders in the Tour de France.
In this fascinating biography of an atypical and resourceful journalist, Pierre Assouline recalls also the visionary aspects of his foray into the Jewish world, whose diversity and resilience he was able to demonstrate very brilliantly.
If Albert Londres's hectic life was full of unique and unforeseen situations in every field, his last investigation in China was shrouded in a mystery that remained unsolved when the journalist accidentally disappeared in the fire on the Georges Philipar, the liner that was taking him back to Marseille on 16 May 1932.
His daughter Florise perpetuated her father's memory by creating in the same year the Albert-Londres Prize, still awarded each year on 16 May to three journalists (written press, audiovisual, publishing) of the calibre of the atypical reporter who is said to have inspired the character of Tintin, created by the author of comics Hergé.
British officials made no mistake in appointing him, on behalf of King George V, an Honorary Officer of the British Empire, in recognition of his campaign as a war reporter on the front from 1914 to 1918. But in absentia, as Albert was, on 20 March 1920, on other fronts.
Like Dickens, Albert Londres seems to wander around in search of the key idea of an article. Armed with his pen and his notebooks, flanked by his mythical old suitcase, he is "the man who leaves" and makes friends everywhere and takes advantage of any possible connection.
He was more fascinated by people than by ideas, more interested in tastes than in theories, observed Pierre Assouline. But very quickly he was caught up in the tragic realities of the world and, not without a salutary irony, he denounced injustice and suffering to the four winds of public opinion. He attacked the penal colony of Cayenne, the psychiatric hospitals of sinister memory and the harsh conditions imposed on riders in the Tour de France.
In this fascinating biography of an atypical and resourceful journalist, Pierre Assouline recalls also the visionary aspects of his foray into the Jewish world, whose diversity and resilience he was able to demonstrate very brilliantly.
If Albert Londres's hectic life was full of unique and unforeseen situations in every field, his last investigation in China was shrouded in a mystery that remained unsolved when the journalist accidentally disappeared in the fire on the Georges Philipar, the liner that was taking him back to Marseille on 16 May 1932.
His daughter Florise perpetuated her father's memory by creating in the same year the Albert-Londres Prize, still awarded each year on 16 May to three journalists (written press, audiovisual, publishing) of the calibre of the atypical reporter who is said to have inspired the character of Tintin, created by the author of comics Hergé.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews