The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Trans...

A sweeping behind-the-scenes look at the last four turbulent decades of “the
paper of record,” The New York Times, as it confronted world-changing events,
internal scandals, and faced the existential threat of the internet “An often
enthralling chronicle [that] delivers the gossipy goods . . . Like Robert
Caro’s biographies, [The Times] should appeal to anyone interested in
power.”—Los Angeles Times A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR For over a
century, The New York Times has been an iconic institution in American
journalism, one whose history is intertwined with the events that it
chronicles—a newspaper read by millions of people every day to stay informed
about events that have taken place across the globe. In The Times, Adam
Nagourney, who’s worked at The New York Times since 1996, examines four
decades of the newspaper’s history, from the final years of Arthur “Punch”
Sulzberger’s reign as publisher to the election of Donald Trump in November
2016. Nagourney recounts the paper’s triumphs—the coverage of September 11,
the explosion of the U.S. Challenger, the scandal of a New York governor
snared in a prostitution case—as well as failures that threatened the paper’s
standing and reputation, including the discredited coverage of the war in
Iraq, the resignation of Judith Miller, the plagiarism scandal of Jayson
Blair, and the high-profile ouster of two of its executive editors. Drawing on
hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents and letters contained in the
newspaper’s archives and the private papers of editors and reporters, The
Times is an inside look at the essential years that shaped the newspaper.
Nagourney paints a vivid picture of a divided newsroom, fraught with tension
as it struggled to move into the digital age, while confronting its scandals,
shortcomings, and swelling criticism from conservatives and many of its own
readers alike. Along the way we meet the memorable personalities—including Abe
Rosenthal, Max Frankel, Howell Raines, Joe Lelyveld, Bill Keller, Jill
Abramson, Dean Baquet, Punch Sulzberger and Arthur Sulzberger Jr.—who shaped
the paper as we know it today. We see the battles between the newsroom and the
business operations side, the fight between old and new media, the tension
between journalists who tried to hold on to the traditional model of a print
newspaper and a new generation of reporters who are eager to embrace the new
digital world. Immersive, meticulously researched, and filled with powerful
stories of the rise and fall of the men and women who ran the most important
newspaper in the nation, The Times is a definitive account of the most pivotal
years in New York Times history. Read more