The D.C. newspaper novel, the media, the Washington area, tech and other surrealism: David Rothman at large
Think Donald Trump will give us many positive surprises in the near term? Dream on. His EPA nominee hates the agency’s mission. Among at least the long-shot possibilities for secretary of state? The head of ExxonMobil. What is this, reality or a cartoon? I caught up with James Fallows of the The Atlantic, once Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter, for his own take […]
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Alexis de Tocqueville helped demystify the America of the 19th century even though he was a visitor rather than a local. In fact, the extra detachment may have helped. Similarly, James Fallows’s writings will provide future readers with shrewd insights into the China of the aughts and beyond. In China Airborne, the latest Fallows book, […]
Read MoreRoy Tennant, a digital library maven, Library Journal columnist and OCLC program officer, has just posted Dueling National Digital Library Visions on the LJ site. It’s my plan on the Atlantic site vs. Harvard Library Director Robert Darnton’s proposal in the New York Review of Books. If this is new to you, go to the […]
Read MoreOn the Atlantic site this morning, you’ll see my call for a well-stocked national digital library system, along with comments from James Fallows, once a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter. But who says the proposal is just for Democrats and liberals? In fact, my own interest in such a system arose originally from a comment by […]
Read MoreCredentialism: A few months back I groused about credentialism in media and elsewhere, and I also urged the Washington Post to care more about the nonelite rather than Slate-izing excessively. Among Scandals’ characters is the resume-fixated Rexwell Garst, the Yalie who, of course, lives in a converted carriage house in Georgetown. Now here’s the 25-year-old […]
Read MoreThe Solomon Scandals, my D.C. newspaper novel, is solidly rooted in Washington and suburbs. But could future Jonathan Stones break explosive Washington stories without even leaving hometowns in the hinterlands? That’s one of the intriguing concepts in a video accompanying Investigative Shortfall—Mary Walton’s generally downbeat article in the American Journalism Review’s September issue. The video […]
Read MoreGive iPads to all members of Congress? That’s the recommendation of Melissa Bluey, the Atlantic’s assistant art director, who correctly notes the general cluelessness of our solons on technological matters. It would be a good start, but we really should go beyond that with the iPad Stimulus Plan discussed here and earlier in the Atlantic […]
Read MoreApple has sold some three million iPads in 80 days, according to the latest news from the company. Many thousands of books are now available for the iPad and the newer iPhones and iPod Touches through Apple’s iBooks app—including The Solomon Scandals. But three million is still a small number compared to the total U.S. […]
Read MoreJonathan Stone, the reporter in The Solomon Scandals, has located a few entries from the secret diary of Tony Hayward, the BP CEO. Here they are with links helpfully inserted by Stone, lest anyone distrust the truth-seekers at BP. Dug up any entries yourself? Share ‘em, if you’d like. – D.R. I find those pictures […]
Read MoreA New York Times contributor offered the best take on blurbs. Maybe we should call in the Bureau of Consumer Protection. He was talking about “misblurbing” of existing book reviews, but original blurbs come with their own perils. Just the same, as others have noted before, positives exist. Honest blurbs can be a useful form […]
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