Friday, September 07, 2007
Book 35 was "Washington Merry-Go-Round"
Gossipy guide to DC in 1931, it doesn't list an author, not even "anonymous"
About page 150, I started to catch on why: it's critical of public figures from a very socialist perspective, which doesn't harm the narrative any.
Google clears up two mysteries.
Mystery one, who wrote it? Drew Pearson.
Mystery two: the security guard where I was working this week asked "Isn't that the title of Jack Anderson's column? (Maybe that's why the title looked familar, and I bought it, at an antique store in Paducah.)
It turns out Pearson was exposed as the author, got fired, and later got hired to write a column by the same name, which eventually Jack Anderson took over.
One more example of why the right to be anonymous is so important - it can cost you your job. Most readers wouldn't be interested in the sordid details of who was who in 1931 - but for those who are, this is the book. Chapters on Vice President Charlie, on Secretary of the Treasury Melon, on the progressive mavericks in the senate. Chapter I'm on now is about congress.
1932 movie of the same name.
not to be confused with
Gossipy guide to DC in 1931, it doesn't list an author, not even "anonymous"
About page 150, I started to catch on why: it's critical of public figures from a very socialist perspective, which doesn't harm the narrative any.
Google clears up two mysteries.
Mystery one, who wrote it? Drew Pearson.
Mystery two: the security guard where I was working this week asked "Isn't that the title of Jack Anderson's column? (Maybe that's why the title looked familar, and I bought it, at an antique store in Paducah.)
It turns out Pearson was exposed as the author, got fired, and later got hired to write a column by the same name, which eventually Jack Anderson took over.
One more example of why the right to be anonymous is so important - it can cost you your job. Most readers wouldn't be interested in the sordid details of who was who in 1931 - but for those who are, this is the book. Chapters on Vice President Charlie, on Secretary of the Treasury Melon, on the progressive mavericks in the senate. Chapter I'm on now is about congress.
1932 movie of the same name.
not to be confused with
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