March 2023 MBR The Journalism Shelf

The Journalism Shelf

Beacons in the Darkness
Dave Hoekstra
Agate Publishing
1328 Greenleaf Street, Evanston, IL 60202
www.agatepublishing.com
9781572843165, $18.99, PB, 298pp

https://www.amazon.com/Beacons-Darkness-Transformation-Community-Newspapers/dp/1572843160

Synopsis: With the publication of "Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America's Community Newspapers", professional journalist Dave Hoekstra interviews the people trying to keep the lights on at community newspapers across the country amid buyouts, declining revenues, fake news, and a pandemic. But "Beacons in the Darkness" is not just another account of the death of local journalism -- but rather a celebration of the community ties, perseverance, and empathy that's demonstrated in community newsrooms from Hillsboro, Illinois, to Charleston, South Carolina, to Marfa, Texas.

Hoekstra recounts the sometimes-scandalous but always-industrious stories of the families who built these newspapers and passed them down through generations. Modern publishers and owners describe in their own words their struggles and experiments to stay alive in the digital age, not just for their businesses and their families but also for the communities they serve and the neighbors whose stories they tell in their reporting.

Of special note is that "Beacons in the Darkness" provides an intimate view inside the organizations that still publish photos of the local bowling league and the outlandishly large mushrooms on the edge of town, leaving you with a rekindled fondness for your own community paper and a renewed appreciation of what we all stand to lose without one.

Critique: Simply stated, anyone who aspires to be a journalist or who recognizes the role local journalism plays as a supporting pillar of our democracy on a community basis, must read "Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America's Community Newspapers". Exceptionally well written, organized and presented (as expected by a journalist of Dave Hoekstra's experience and expertise), "Beacons in the Darkness" is a vital and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library American Journalism collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for journalism students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Beacons in the Darkness" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Dave Hoekstra (https://www.davehoekstra.com/about-me) is a Chicago author-journalist. From 1985 through 2014, he was a columnist-critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he won the 2013 Studs Terkel Community Media Award. He has contributed pieces to Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Reader, New City, and Raw Vision. He has written several books, including The Supper Club Book (A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition), The People's Place (Soul Food Restaurants and Reminiscences from The Civil Rights Era to Today), and The Camper Book (Celebration of a Moveable American Dream).

Finding Fang Dazeng
Xuesong Feng, author
Long River Press
c/o China Books & Periodicals, Inc.
360 Swift Avenue, Suite #48, South San Francisco, CA 94080
www.chinabooks.com
9781592652471, $24.95, PB, 314pp

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Fang-Dazeng-Correspondents-language/dp/1592652476

Synopsis: By the mid 1930s, photographer and journalist Fang Dazeng was well known within Chinese press circles. Born in 1912, he was considered by many to be the "Robert Capa of China" for his pioneering work in photojournalism. Fang was also one of the most active correspondents in the early stage of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

His reports and photographs were published in Shun Pao, Young Companion, World Pictorial, and Ta Kung Pao in China, and in Time in the U.S. and the Illustrated London News in the United Kingdom, among others. After witnessing and reporting on the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (Lugouqiao) on the outskirts of Beijing in July, 1937, which led to full scale invasion by Japan into China, Fang continued to send dispatches from the main areas of conflict within until he vanished without a trace in September, 1937.

Fang never returned home and his fate remains unknown to this day. But his story was far from finished. In 1999, author and editor for CCTV, Feng Xuesong, began work on a comprehensive series of documentaries on Fang Dazeng. His discoveries led to meetings with Fang's surviving family members and a cache of Fang's personal belongings including numerous rolls of undeveloped film taken before his disappearance.

As a result of Feng Xuesong's tireless work to reappraise and treasure Fang Dazeng's contribution to modern Chinese history, as well as Fang's own selfless actions and perhaps his making the ultimate sacrifice, Fang Dazeng is now widely considered to be the forefather of photojournalism in China. These remarkable series of discoveries form the core of this book, featuring many of Fang's photographs being published for the first time. Fang Dazeng's contribution to our better understanding of modern Chinese history is of inestimable value to future scholars and those interested in some of China's most tumultuous years.

Critique: "Finding Fang Dazeng: A War Correspondent's Stories" by Xuesong Feng is a large sized (8.25 x 0.79 x 10.25 inches, 1.81 pounds) paperback compendium of historic black/white captioned photographs that provide a kind of 'window through time' to pictorially reveal China in a time of war. This English language edition from Long River Press and distributed by China Books & Periodicals is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library 19th Century Journalism, Photography, and Chinese History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Chasing Catastrophe
Rick Leventhal
Post Hill Press
www.posthillpress.com
9781637584941, $28.00, HC, 400pp

https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Catastrophe-Covering-Hurricanes-Breaking/dp/1637584946

Synopsis: Part memoir and part leadership manifesto, with the publication of "Chasing Catastrophe: My 35 Years Covering Wars, Hurricanes, Terror Attacks, and Other Breaking News", veteran journalist Rick Leventhal empowers those aspiring reporters and journalists who are ready to work hard to overcome adversity and achieve their goals. In the pages of "Chasing Catastrophe", Rick shares some incredible highlights and some of the most challenging moments of a career in journalism spanning some thirty-five years.

Rick also shares what it was like to sleep in the dirt in the Iraqi desert; to stand at the base of the Twin Towers in flames and run from the smoke cloud when they fell; to face a Category 5 hurricane; to be on scene when one of America's most cheered and respected race car drivers crashed and died; to hurry to the frozen Hudson River from Midtown after Captain Sully landed his plane on its icy surface; to separate fact from fiction on the fly and figure out what could be reported -- and what couldn't; and to be in awe meeting some of the most famous people in America, only to learn they were fans of his work.

Critique: Especially recommended reading for anyone curious about what its like to have a career as a journalist in some of the most dangerous places at home and abroad, "Chasing Catastrophe: My 35 Years Covering Wars, Hurricanes, Terror Attacks, and Other Breaking News" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library American Biography/Memoir and Contemporary Journalism collections. It should be noted for journalism students, academicians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Chasing Catastrophe" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Rick Leventhal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Leventhal) is a veteran journalist who spent thirty-five years covering wars, hurricanes, terror attacks, and other major breaking news stories across the country and around the world. After ten years at local affiliates, Rick quickly rose to Senior Correspondent at Fox News Channel where he was assigned to many of the biggest stories of the past twenty-five years. He ran from the dust cloud when both towers fell on 9/11, embedded with Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent weeks in Libya covering the fall of Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhafi, chased countless storms and other breaking news, and remained rock solid on air through all of it.

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