Briefly...
Book review by
Carl Sessions Stepp
Carl Sessions Stepp (cstepp@umd.edu) began writing for his hometown paper, the Marlboro Herald-Advocate in Bennettsville, South Carolina, in 1963, after his freshman year in high school. He studied journalism at the University of South Carolina, where he edited The Gamecock. After college, he worked for the St. Petersburg Times and the Charlotte Observer before becoming the first national editor at USA Today in 1982. In 1983, he joined the University of Maryland journalism faculty full time. In the ensuing 30 years, he also has served as senior editor and book reviewer for AJR, writing dozens of pieces. He has been a visiting writing and editing coach for news organizations in more than 30 states.
The Best of Rolling Stone: 25 Years of Journalism
on the Edge, edited by Robert Love (Doubleday, 510 pages, $15). A rollicking
anthology reprinting work by Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey,
Gerri Hirshey and many others, and featuring often fascinating introductions
to each piece. Here, for instance, is how Joe Eszterhas describes working
at the magazine: "I met Jann Wenner, who seemed to single-handedly galvanize
the place... He would appear periodically in a cape and Sherlock Holmes
cap, a bag of Doggie Diner cheeseburgers in hand... His attitude was that
he expected great things from all of us. His eyes said, 'Don't disappoint
me.' " ###
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