Russell Baker charmed readers with his astute political
commentary and biting cerebral wit. The noted journalist, humorist,
essayist, and biographer wrote or edited seventeen books, and was
the author of the nationally syndicated “Observer” column for
the New York Times from 1962 to 1998. Called by Robert
Sherrill of the Washington Post Book Word, “the supreme
satirist of this half-century,” Baker was most famous for turning
the daily gossip of most newspapers into the stuff of
laugh-out-loud literature. John Skow of Time described
Baker's work as “funny, but full of the pain and absurdity of the
age...he can write with a hunting strain of melancholy, with
delight, or...with shame or outrage.” Baker received his first
Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 1979, in recognition
of his "Observer" column. Baker received his second Pulitzer Prize
in 1983 for his autobiography, Growing Up (1983).
In addition to his regular column and numerous books, Baker also
edited the anthologies, The Norton Book of Light
Verse (1986) and Russell Baker's Book of American
Humor (1993). From 1993 to 2004 he was the regular host of the
PBS television series Masterpiece Theatre. Baker was a regular
contributor to national periodicals such as The New York Times
Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Saturday Evening Post,
and McCalls. One of his columns, “How to Hypnotize Yourself
into Forgetting the Vietnam War,” was dramatized and filmed by Eli
Wallach for PBS. Baker died in 2019 at the age of 93.
Praise for Growing Up and Russell Baker
“A wondrous book, funny, sad, and strong…[with scenes] as funny and
touching as Mark Twain's.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Lovely haunting prose....[Baker] moves beyond the boundaries of
his newspaper column to establish a place for this book among the
most enduring recollections of American boyhoods—those of Thurber
and Mencken, Aldrich and Twain.”—The Washington Post Book World
“One of the most heart-warming, inspiring, nostalgic, funniest,
best-written books I have ever read.”—Ann Landers
"[Baker is] a precious national resource."—Neil Postman
“The saddest, funniest, most tragical yet comical picture of coming
of age in the U.S.A. in the Depression years and World War II that
has ever been written.”—Harrison Salisbury
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