Oliver Ramsay Pilat

Intriguing biography of one of the landmark figures, simultaneously, in American journalism and American politics. For over forty years, Drew Pearson (and his colleagues) stood astride Capitol Hill as a homonculous, confounding, enraging and assisting politicians. This is a particularly interesting biography, in that Pilat shows both sides of the equation; Pearson was responsible for many exposures of corrupt behaviour, though Pilat doesn't shy away from the ethical violations (such as conflicts of interest, and outright fabrication) that Pearson was involved in. One has doubts that such a biography of a left-of-centre figure would be done today. That Alger Hiss was one of Pearson's sources is a somewhat interesting revelation in the book. It does raise an issue as to whether the New Yorker should have applied the same (brutal) analysis it did to Walter Winchell (a jealous rival of Pearson's) as it did to Pearson. (See McKelway's book "Gossip: the Life and Times of Walter Winchell," for details re the analysis). Certainly recommended.… (altro)