When I first saw this list by Harold Evans of books showing reporters at work, I sensed something major was missing but couldn't pinpoint the gap.
And then it came to me: The Earl of Louisiana by A. J. Liebling. A book for the political junkies on your list, this is a memorable account of the Louisiana of Governor Earl Long, brother of Huey and genuine wild man. Liebling, of course, wrote beautifully.
An excerpt:
His delivery is based on increasing volume, like the noise of an approaching subway train; when he reaches his climaxes, you feel almost irresistibly impelled to throw yourself flat between the rails and let the cars pass over you. "When our beloved friend, the fine Governor of the Gret Stet of Loosiana, sent for me in his need at Mandeville," Mr. Sims said, "his condition had been so MISREPRESENTED -" here he took the train around a loop and up to Seventy-Second Street before he started down again - "that people I knew said to me, 'Don't you go up there, Joe Sims. That man is a hyena. He'll BITE YOU IN THE LAIG.' But I went. I went to Mandeville, and before I could reach my friend, the armed guard had to open ten locked doors, and lock each one of 'em again after us. And theah, theah, I found the FINE Governor, of the GRET Stet of Loosiana -" and here his shocked voice backed way beyond Columbus Circle - "without SHOES, without a stitch of CLOTHES to put awn him, without a friend to counsel with. And he was just as rational as he has ever been in his life, or as you see him here today. He said, 'JOE SIMS, WHERE THE HELL YOU BEEN?'"
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