Robert Shogan (September 12, 1930 – October 30, 2013) was an American journalist and author.[1] He spent more than 25 years at the Washington bureau of The Los Angeles Times.[2] He also worked for The Detroit Free Press, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal. He taught at Johns Hopkins University, among other institutions.[2]

Robert Shogan
BornSeptember 12, 1930
New York City
DiedOctober 30, 2013
Washington, D.C.
EducationSyracuse University
Occupation(s)Journalist and author
Notable creditThe Los Angeles Times

Books

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Shogan wrote many works of historical nonfiction and media criticism. Particularly praised was The Battle Of Blair Mountain: The Story Of America's Largest Labor Uprising, published in 2004. Kirkus Reviews called it "a stunning re-creation of the great West Virginia uprising of 1921 ... crackingly told."[3] The Journal of Appalachian Studies declared that "among other successes, this book presents a valuable short history of the U.S. labor movement and its discontents through crystalline evocations of figures like Samuel Gompers, John L. Lewis, the Wobblies, and Mother Jones."[4] Greil Marcus, in a revised edition of The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes, cited it as a worthy source about the Battle of Blair Mountain.[5]

External videos
  Booknotes interview with Shogan on The Riddle of Power, April 21, 1991, C-SPAN
  Washington Journal interview with Shogan on Hard Bargain, May 5, 1995, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Shogan on Hard Bargain, September 14, 1995, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Shogan on The Double-Edged Sword, January 8, 1998, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Shogan on Bad News, June 7, 2001, C-SPAN
  Washington Journal interview with Shogan on War Without End, September 1, 2002, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Shogan on No Sense of Decency, April 16, 2009, C-SPAN
  Presentation by Shogan on Prelude to Catastrophe, October 23, 2010, C-SPAN

Publishers Weekly wrote that Bad News: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the President, published in 2001, was a "carefully crafted retrospective on the media and presidential campaigns since JFK ... a highly readable chronicle."[6] Reviewing 1991's The Riddle of Power: Presidential Leadership From Truman to Bush, The New York Times stated that it was "on balance ... a lively and straightforward primer on leadership."[7]

Selected bibliography

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  • The Detroit Race Riot: A Study in Violence, with Tom Craig (1964)
  • A Question of Judgment: The Fortas Case and the Struggle for the Supreme Court (1972)
  • Promises to Keep: Carter's First Hundred Days (1977)
  • Riddle of Power: Presidential Leadership from Truman to Bush (1991)
  • Hard Bargain: How FDR Twisted Churchill's Arm, Evaded the Law, and Changed the Role of the American Presidency (1995)
  • Bad News: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the President (2001)
  • The Battle Of Blair Mountain: The Story Of America's Largest Labor Uprising (2004)
  • No Sense of Decency: The Army–McCarthy Hearings: A Demagogue Falls and Television Takes Charge of American Politics (2009)
  • Prelude to Catastrophe: FDR's Jews and the Menace of Nazism (2010)
  • Harry Truman and the Struggle for Racial Justice (2013)

References

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  1. ^ "Robert Shogan dies at 83; Times' Washington political correspondent". Los Angeles Times. November 1, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Langer, Emily (October 31, 2013). "Robert Shogan, author and longtime political reporter for Los Angeles Times, dies at 83" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  3. ^ "The Battle of Blair Mountain" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
  4. ^ Precoda, Karl (2006). "Reviewed work: The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising, Robert Shogan; the Shot from the Mountain: An Appalachian Odyssey, Claude S. Phillips". Journal of Appalachian Studies. 12 (1): 144–146. JSTOR 41446709.
  5. ^ Marcus, Greil (2011). The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. Picador. ISBN 978-1429961585 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: BAD NEWS: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the President by Robert Shogan, Author BAD NEWS: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the P $26 (308p) ISBN 978-1-56663-346-8". PublishersWeekly.com.
  7. ^ Mitgang, Herbert (March 9, 1991). "Books of The Times; How Roosevelt's Successors Compare" – via NYTimes.com.
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