Beware of Limbo Dancers: A Correspondent's Adventures with the New York Times
"Retired New York Times reporter Reed (Faubus: The Life and Times of an American Prodigal, 1997, etc.), born in 1930, recounts his journey through a range of controversial stories. He briefly discusses his Arkansas childhood, his education at the University of Missouri Journalism School and his journey from small-town reporting to the Times. Although he thought he understood the Southern mentality on race, Reed learned that the relatively mild racism of his childhood did not compare to the more virulent brand in the Deep South, including Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Rather than letting his personal beliefs guide his reporting, Reed disciplined himself to get along with everybody as much as possible; publishing an important, clear story trumped individual glory for journalistic scoops. In addition to reporting about race in the South, Reed served as a London correspondent for the Times, as well as a Washington, D.C., correspondent--a position that often seemed more disorienting that an overseas posting. During the full term of Lyndon Johnson, Reed covered White House politics intensely. When Hubert Humphrey, Johnson's vice president, tried to replace his boss in the White House, Reed wrote about the 1968 presidential campaign almost every day. When Republican Richard Nixon prevailed, the author had to become accustomed to dealing professionally with a president quite different from the Democratic candidate. A compelling tour of a journalist's life from an intelligent, charming guide."--Kirkus Reviews, Aug. 2012"Roy Reed's prose delivers our most turbulent years in the civil rights movement with a ringing clarity. His memoir is a tapestry of anecdote, personal observation, characterization, major event, and constant insight as we ride along with this New York Times reporter through some of our nation's darkest history."--William Harrison, author ofRollerball"Roy was one of our best writers at the Arkansas Gazette, and with this book he once again gives us a fine piece of writing."--Charles Portis, author ofTrue Grit"Roy Reed's latest book is a gem and cements his position as one of the South's most important writers of nonfiction. It meanders gracefully and brilliantly through some of twentieth-century America's most significant events."--Gene Roberts, Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor ofThe Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation"Reporting keeps lively for a long time when it's this good, this seasoned, this much from the thick of things, and this funny."--Roy Blount Jr., author ofAlphabetter Juice"Roy Reed is a dream reporter--great eye, great ear, great sense of humor, and an innate love of the language that was matched by his abiding appreciation of mankind's shared foibles. When he retired from the New York Times, he took a large slice of its soul with him. Now he has written a dream of a memoir, reminding us of how joyful it can be to ply the journalist's trade and why it matters to do it well."--Hodding Carter, former editor of theDelta Democrat-Times