"I think Eleanor Roosevelt has so gripped the imagination of this moment because we need her and her vision so completely. . . . She's perfect for us as we enter the twenty-first century. Eleanor Roosevelt is a loud and profound voice for people who want to change the world." -- Blanche Wiesen Cook Named "Woman of the Century" in a survey conducted by the National Women's Hall of Fame, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote her hugely popular syndicated column "My Day" for over a quarter of that century, from 1936 to 1962. This collection brings together for the first time in a single volume the most memorable of those columns, written with singular wit, elegance, compassion, and insight -- everything from her personal perspectives on the New Deal and World War II to the painstaking diplomacy required of her as chair of the United Nations Committee on Human Rights after the war to the joys of gardening at her beloved Hyde Park home. To quote Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., "What a remarkable woman she was! These sprightly and touching selections from Eleanor Roosevelt's famous column evoke an extraordinary personality." "My Day reminds us how great a woman she was." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"In the Washington Merry-Go-Round, a nationally syndicated newspaper column that appeared in hundreds of papers from 1932 to 1969, as well as on weekly radio and television programs, the investigative journalist Drew Pearson revealed news that public officials tried to suppress. He disclosed policy disputes and political spats, exposed corruption, attacked bigotry, and promoted social justice. He pumped up some political careers and destroyed others. Presidents, prime ministers, and members of Congress repeatedly called him a liar, and he was sued for libel more often than any other journalist, but he won most of his cases by proving the accuracy of his charges. Pearson dismissed most official news as propaganda and devoted his column to reporting what officials were doing behind closed doors. He broke secrets-even in wartime-and revealed classified information. Fellow journalists credited him with knowing more dirt about more people in Washington than even the FBI and compared his efforts to Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers or Edward Snowden with WikiLeaks, except that he did it daily. The Columnist examines how Pearson managed to uncover secrets so successfully and why government efforts to find his sources proved so unsuccessful. Drawing on a half century of archival evidence it assesses his contributions as a muckraker by verifying or refuting both his accusations and his accusers"--

A guide to writing effective columns in which famous columnists, including Dave Barry, Art Buchwald, and Pete Hamill, share their secrets for success and reveal the best ways to excel in the craft.

In haunting, introspective essays, several writers explore black America's internal racial conflicts--Lisa Baird ponders how her light complexion and straight hair affect her sense of identity as a black woman, DeWayne Wickham writes on color discrimination within the black community, and Dwight Lewis issues a plaintive call to the black father. Photos. National ads/media.