From Walter Cronkite to Bobby Knight to Benny Goodman - from grassroots politics to Watergate to the Middle East - from every-day folks to high-profile people to historical figures - "A Journalist's Journey" is packed with informative, insightful, interesting journalism written by Indiana Hall of Fame newspaperman Ray Moscowitz. This book is a compilation of 50 news stories, features, editorials, columns and chapters from Moscowitz's previous books written over five decades. As written in the preface, "There's a sense of history in 'A Journalist's Journey' -- a natural byproduct, rather than a primary goal in selecting 50 pieces of writing from several hundred." Moscowitz's compelling pieces take readers from small-town Indiana to major cities -- Dayton, Indianapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., London, Cairo and beyond as he paints word pictures of people, places and major events. There's a feature on how Carnaby Street in London, which was the rage in cultural circles in the mid 1960s, appeared to be giving way to King's Road as signs of class disintegration in England were becoming apparent. There's a column on spiking gas prices in the early 1970s causing economic hardship, bringing to mind the old expression, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." There's a story about Egypt in the wake of the 1973 October War, written from Cairo after a drive through the Sinai Desert and a tour of war-torn cities along the Suez Canal. There's background and insight on the Panama Canal treaties in a profile on chief negotiator Sol Linowitz. There's light shed on the Watergate scandal in an interview with Hoosier William Ruckelshaus, who was one of the victims of the "Saturday Night Massacre." There's a chapter from Moscowitz's first book, a biography of legendary newspaper editor and pioneer Basil (Stuffy) Walters. And there's a chapter from Moscowitz's second book, which captures the excitement of Indiana high school basketball by telling the true story of a small school seekling to win the coveted state championship. There are editorials on important issues that occurred in Frankfort, Wabash and Peru, three of the four grassroots towns in which he served the former Nixon Newspapers as editor and/or publisher. There's an in-depth exploration of how globalization was inexorably changing the world's economies as a new century was unfolding. "A Journalist's Journey" covers a wide swath of life -- from education to health to auto racing to censorship to peace to business to children to senior citizens to newspapers to Christmas. There's an emphasis on government and politics, because they were central to Moscowitz's career as a reporter, editor and corporate editorial director. But there are several pieces on people, some major figures at times, others every-day folk who were interesting and fascinating in their own ways. In all, the 50 pieces of journalism in this book shine a light on people and the society in which they lived, worked and played.
About the Author: Ray Moscowitz is a life-long journalist who has worked as a reporter, managing editor, editor, publisher and corporate editorial director for more than a dozen newspapers in Indiana and Ohio. During that time he won awards for news reporting, feature writing, editorials, and personal columns. He is the author of "Stuffy: The Life of Newspaper Pioneer Basil 'Stuffy' Walters" (1982), "Small School, Giant Dream: A Year of Hoosier High School Hoopla" (1990) and "Small School, Giant Dream 20 Years Later: Life After Indiana High School Basketball" (2009). Now in his eighth decade, he continues to write a general interest column for a weekly newspaper in Indiana. Moscowitz has mentored hundreds of young reporters and editors, many of whom call themselves graduates of the "The Ray Moscowitz School of Journalism." He has also taught formally as an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University Kokomo. Moscowitz was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002.