Synopses & Reviews
On Sunday morning, June 18, 1972, only Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein showed up in the Washington Post newsroom to work on the strange story of the Watergate break-in. Neither one was particularly glad to see the other. Though they shared a fascination with the story, the only other thing they shared was a mutual distrust. But their synergistic partnership allowed them to do something neither could have done aloneand the results were historic.
After Watergatethe most important event for journalism, politics, and the presidency in the past one hundred yearsWoodward and Bernstein became living legends throughout the world, leaving in their trail an indelible high-water mark that every American journalist has had to confront since. Their lives should have been golden from therebut how do you live the rest of your life knowing you've peaked by your thirtieth birthday?
Woodward and Bernstein told you what happened in All the President's Men; now, in Woodward and Bernstein, award-winning journalist Alicia Shepard tells you the rest of the story, including more about the recent dramatic revelation of Deep Throat's identity. Shepard takes a fresh, thought-provoking look at the duo known as "Woodstein." For the first time, Shepard separates myth from reality as she traces the life lessons of these iconic journalists before and after Watergate.
Even in their early days, their differences were clear: Woodward was straitlaced with a strong midwestern work ethic. Bernstein was a streetwise college dropout who worked his way up the newsroom ladder through raw talent. Bernstein was quick at seeing a story and knowing what it should be; Woodward made sure it got done and done well. Woodward was eager to please, inquisitive, and highly disciplined; Bernstein, while brilliant, was also irresponsible, with poor work habits that got him into trouble. He was on "probation" at the Washington Post when he was ordered to work through a weekendhis lucky break.
Shepard sorts through the lessons of their divergent paths, detailing how Bernstein's career stalled and fizzled while Woodward soldiered on to become the biggest brand in the newspaper business. Shepard's riveting tale is the sum of more than 175 interviews and never-before-seen archival materials, including the Watergate papers the pair sold to the University of Texas for $5 million. Woodward and Bernstein recalls the thriller-like pacing of All the President's Men while weaving together the long-awaited details the pair left out over thirty years ago.
Review
"Shepard provides a thoughtful account....Concluding with the revelation of famed Watergate source 'Deep Throat,' Shepard sustains reader interest in the two men after what might be the apex of anyone else's career." Library Journal
Review
"Here is the story of the two reporters who cracked the Watergate cover-up. How they did it and what has happened to them since makes for fascinating reading." Sam Donaldson, ABC News Correspondent
Review
"Alicia Shepard has long been one of the nation's most important writers on journalism. Now she turns her attention to two of history's most famous journalists. Her book is a winner penetrating, fascinating, and remarkably balanced." Gene Roberts, former managing editor of the New York Times
Review
"Alicia Shepard has written a brilliant biography of two giants of American journalism. Her book offers penetrating new insights into the complicated relationship between her two subjects....If All the President's Men was the ultimate work of journalistic sleuthing, Shepard's Woodward and Bernstein should be placed right next to it on every bookshelf." Michael Isikoff, Investigative Correspondent, Newsweek
Review
"Even those who think they know Watergate and Woodstein will find delicious surprises in this engaging book. Those who've always wondered what the fuss is about will find an even-handed, comprehensive answer. All will be powerfully reminded that dogged reporting from an outsider's perspective is a democratic essential and that those who succeed gloriously at it may one day wake up insiders." Geneva Overholser, Professor, Missouri School of Journalism, and former Ombudsman, Washington Post
Review
"Because Shepard is so knowledgeable about the inner workings of newsrooms, her dual biography doubles as a primer on journalism that's especially informative for nonjournalists about the use and abuse of anonymous sources by reporters and editors." Steve Weinberg, The Oregonian
Review
"Readers get a fast-moving, frank account of two star journalists' lives and times." Robert VerBruggen, Washington Times
Review
"Absorbing....A richly detailed book that does justice to both history and biography an impressive achievement in a well-wrought narrative of fewer than 300 pages." Carl Rollyson, The New York Sun
Review
"It's probably inevitable that someone should write a biography of these two American folk heroes. A biographer's work is even more complicated when the subjects are still alive and evolving and frequently making headlines. Woodward and Bernstein are lucky that an observer as sensitive and careful as Shepard accepted the challenge." Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
Review
"Reading Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate reminded me a lot of attending my high school reunion. On the one hand, it was fun to soak up bits of gossip about people once significant to me. On the other hand, I wasn't entirely certain why it should matter anymore....It would be nice to be able to extract some larger lesson from [Woodward and Bernstein's] remarkable story, but in some ways, in the end, it's the same tale we all could tell. A whole lot of very surprising stuff has happened to us since high school, and yet, in so many ways, we haven't changed a bit." Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire CSM review)
Synopsis
The full, fascinating and controversial lives of the two most famous journalists in the world
Watergate was the most important event for journalism, politics, and the presidency in the last 100 years. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became household names throughout the world after they helped topple Nixon and left an indelible high-water mark that confronts every future American journalist. But how do you live the rest of your life knowing you've reached your peak before your thirtieth birthday?
Award-winning journalist Alicia C. Shepard separates myth from reality in this new and thoughtful look at the duo collectively known as Woodstein. She sorts through their influential early lives and their widely divergent careers since Watergate. Shepard's riveting tale is the sum of key interviews with virtually everyone around them, numerous new archival materials, including the newly opened Watergate archives, and the revelation of Deep Throat's identity.
The pair became millionaires overnight. Bernstein married fellow celebrity Nora Ephron, quit the Post, failed miserably as a network news executive, and has never lived up to his potential. Woodward soldiered on to become the biggest brand in the newspaper business, despite having a Pulitzer-winning protégé at the Post get exposed as a fraud and losing all his goodwill in Hollywood with a notorious biography of John Belushi. He famously tells every interviewer he's just not that interesting, but writes a mega-bestseller every other year and bears the weight of nearly all the criticism and praise heaped on his profession.
As gripping as All the President's Men, Woodward and Bernstein takes readers on aninsightful journey through the contentious intersection of journalism, politics, and celebrity.
Synopsis
Award-winning journalist Shepard separates myth from reality in this new and thoughtful look at the duo collectively known as "Woodstein." She sorts through their influential early lives and their widely divergent careers since Watergate.
Synopsis
Based on new interviews and never-before-seen archival materials, Woodward and Bernstein takes a fresh, thought-provoking look at this unlikely journalistic duo. Thrown together by fate or luck, Woodward and Bernstein changed the face of journalism and the American presidency. For the first time, Shepard separates myth from reality as she traces the lives of the iconic journalists before and after Watergate.
About the Author
Alicia C. Shepard is a regular contributor to People and the Washingtonian. She teaches journalism at American University in Washington, D.C., and has won three National Press Club awards for her media criticism in the American Journalism Review.
Table of Contents
Preface.
1. The Up and Comers.
2. Trust.
3. The Best Obtainable Version of the Truth.
4. In Demand.
5. The Source to End All Sources.
6. The Double-Edged Sword.
7. When Are You Going to Screw Up?
8. Bernstein Unchaperoned.
9. Mr. Carte Blanche.
10. Loyalties.
11. Piercing the Veil.
12. The Revelation.
Acknowledgments.
Works Cited.
Index.