The Kingdom and the Power

While this book is 50+ years old it is still a great read. Talese does in depth research and provides many great facts and insights. I like the way he describes people in a way that allows you to see a picture of that person in your mind’s eye. I am working my way through the Talese collection and so far all the books have been winners.

Great writer. Famous book in its day. Well worth a read by anyone who appreciates good journalism about one of the most famouse newspapers in the world. Gay Talese invented a ndew form of feature writing which is no longer possible.... no space or time. Meet with him in this one.

There's the densely populated New York City. And the rest of America. And the rest of the world. One institution can affect all of the world. Essentially, it is a kingdom.The New York Times.And the influence is captured in a fact-filled, 526-page, 20-chapter, seasoned-with-French-words book by Gay Talese- The Kingdom and the Power. About now, I would give a brief introduction to the plot of this book. But guess what?There is none.Well, not a very clear one. What I can see is a basic plot about how people in the Times tried to change the older standards it had to adapt to more modern times. Yet, in the midst of a lot of descriptions of different Timesmen and anecdotes about them, this plot becomes very subtle.The development of the plot (whatever it's supposed to be) is very slow. There is a long substantial story only around Chapter 17-20, which is the end of the novel. And for the first 16 chapters, it doesn't seem like a full novel. It feels more like a collection of short stories. But this is justifiable, because without the 16 story-less chapters, the story in the last chapters will not make much sense. Talese puts in a lot of information in these chapters to make sure that the reader actually knows the background of the Times, so that then he can write his story uninterrupted with tangents for explanations.The best part about this book is Talese's writing style. As he shifts between different periods of time and different Timesmen, he describes their writing styles. After all, it is a book about a newspaper. Talese imitates the styles he describes, improving interaction with the reader by letting the reader experience the way readers of the newspaper at that time felt. He writes in the long-paragraph, opinion-lacking style to reflect a period in the Times, an upbeat, funny tone during another part, and even very optimistic writing, justifying mistakes to reflect Timesman James Reston. Talese also seasons his writing with various English-French phrases, such as bête noire, passé, politesse, and a lot more.Overall, it's an enjoyable book, but something you wouldn't finish fast. It has it's ups and downs-- sometimes you really want to keep reading and other times, you just want to keep the book far away and never read it again. Talese's writing style makes it interesting enough that you wouldn't completely stop reading the book, but just might read it extremely slowly. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

I am writing a book on my grandfather who was a NYT correspondent for many decades. Talese’s book helped me to give readers a good picture of the culture of this great publication.

The unvarnished biography of "The New York Times". Although 50 years old, it reads like a contemporary work and is a must for anyone interested in journalism or writing in general or office politics at a very high level. Many interesting profiles of the Times personalities that I grew up with. Highly recommended.JD