The Eastern Shore | Ward Just

My review of Ward Just’s The Eastern Shore ran today in the Boston Globe. Unfortunately, the link is broken on the Globe website and it’s not accessible! (You can read the review here, for some reason.)

The book tells the story of a newspaper editor, from his defiant youth in a boring, Midwestern backwater to his lonely, isolated retirement on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Just uses the editor’s six-decade career to illustrate transformations within the newspaper industry and to, at times, seemingly scold journalists (or the profession itself) for an exaggerated sense of their own significance and the irresponsible use of their power.

A fine book — a brisk, entertaining read, though Just’s main character, Ned Ayers is something of a thin shadow throughout.