Synopses & Reviews
Burning Down My Masters' House is the highly-anticipated memoir that captures the pain, anger and fierce determination of Jayson Blair. A young black journalist who descended from slaves, he rose to become a national correspondent at the
New York Times before igniting the largest journalism scandal in decades.
Blair accepts all the words that have been used to describe him: liar, thief, fabricator and plagiarist. He does not push responsibility for his actions onto anyone else, but seeks to explain how someone with talent and opportunity could fall from such great heights, primarily by his own hand. For the first time, in his own words, Blair seeks to answer the question that consumed media watchers, writers and readers everywhere: How could such a thing have happened at the New York Times?
This is a painfully honest, fascinating and controversial memoir.
Review
"Blair's sad and troubling book offers a warning: In the pressures of daily journalism, there can be many levels of deception." Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
Review
"How do we approach a memoir by a confessed serial liar? One way is to treat it as fiction, and as such Blair's tale has superficial merit. The dramatic arc is strong....The writing is sharp, too....[A] fierce, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing volume..." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Far from solving the Jayson Blair enigma, this sloppy, padded and dishonest work only adds to his growing word count of lies....[A] shoddily written and filibustering book....Jayson Blair is a confessed con man, and [this book] is just another installment in his ongoing con." Jack Shafer, The New York Times
Review
"Jayson Blair...may have committed an even bigger sin than journalistic fraud: He's boring....[W]hat a mundane and tedious story [this] is....What may be the most surprising thing about the book is simply that it is not better written." Edward P. Smith, Denver Post
Review
"[Blair] offer[s] an overstuffed platter of excuses for why he did what he did....Blair's plea for understanding may be heartfelt....But it rings hollow all the same, and no one should be surprised when readers invest their sympathies elsewhere." Gregory McNamee, The Hollywood Reporter
Review
"[A] quickie book. It feels padded...[with] the sort of reportorial adventures that are fine as after-work barroom anecdotes but fall short of book-worthiness....[V]ivid, wired, serviceably written and paced, and, in a way, more interesting for its artlessness." Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker
Review
"Why anybody who works outside journalism would want to read [this book] remains a puzzle....The only thing Blair adds is his own deeply troubled soul. Alas, he turns out to be a lot less interesting than he seems to think he is." Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Review
"290 pages of self-delusional whining and ranting...in which Blair blames virtually everyone in the Times organization and in society at large for his downfall. It is difficult not only to fathom but to read. (Grade: F)" Teresa K. Weaver, Rocky Mountain News
Review
"[A]nything but a boring read. Nevertheless, the book still feels like fast food: a bit of just-in-time scandal-mongering from a young journalist affected by the sense of entitlement that too many young Americans feel today." Hugh Pearson, The Washington Post
Review
"[A] repugnant, self-serving tale....Not surprisingly, Blair is an excellent wordsmith. He writes with clarity and with passion, traits of a fine author. Perhaps he should stick to fiction, a literary endeavor with which he's most acquainted." Lee Coppola, The Buffalo News (N.Y.)
Synopsis
In Burning Down My Masters' House, Blair recounts in detail the events that led to his downfall as a journalist for the New York Times, as well as his personal journey to make sense of the different pieces of the puzzle.
About the Author
Jayson Blair is a writer living in New York City.