Publishers Weekly
08/19/2024
This admiring biography from journalist Esposito (Bomb Squad) chronicles the career of pugnacious and prolific New York City reporter Jimmy Breslin (1928–2017). Esposito contends that Breslin deserves to be remembered alongside his New York Herald Tribune colleague Tom Wolfe as a progenitor of “New Journalism,” citing among other examples Breslin’s decision to focus his coverage of John F. Kennedy’s funeral on how the man who dug the president’s grave experienced that day. Also detailed are Breslin’s unsuccessful 1969 bid for City Council president on a platform promising to make the city a state; the taunting letters the Son of Sam wrote Breslin in the mid 1970s; and Breslin’s forceful condemnations of Donald Trump for taking out a newspaper ad calling for the execution of the Central Park Five in 1989. Esposito presents Breslin as a consummate reporter—asserting that “he usually used more shoe leather and worked as hard as or harder... than any reporter whose front-page beat was the cops, courts, jails”—and the crisp prose conjures the smoke-filled newsrooms of the industry’s mid-century heyday (“Rat-tat-tatting and slamming—powerful, fast, heavy-fingered key strikes—sweating, smoking, crumpling pages into balls that cluttered the desk and dropped on to the floor”). It’s a loving ode to a dedicated journalist and the bygone era in which he made his mark. (Oct.)
Gloria Steinem
"Thanks to this biography of my friend and colleague, Jimmy Breslin, you will experience the essence of New York City, and also of a writer who ignored all hierarchies of race, class, gender and nation. I miss him everyday."
Nick Pileggi
"Buy the book. You can never have too much Breslin."
Bob Hardt
"Jimmy died in the end but it's a terrific read."
Kirkus Reviews
2024-08-17
A lively portrait of the legendary New York crime reporter and columnist.
In this expansive, laudatory biography of the celebrated and often controversial journalist (1928-2017), Esposito, himself a veteran print and TV reporter as well as Breslin’s former newspaper colleague, meticulously chronicles his coverage of major events that shaped New York City. The book begins with Breslin’s reporting on the Son of Sam murders in 1977, including the exclusive letter he received from the killer, which exemplified his knack for being at the center of major stories. It also established his celebrity status: “With Son of Sam, Breslin knew he was ready to become even bigger, to become larger than life to an audience of millions.” Esposito explores Breslin's connections to underworld figures, showcasing his ability to navigate both the streets and the corridors of power. His infamous interview with Mafia boss Jimmy Burke (immortalized as Jimmy Conway inGoodfellas) and his coverage of the John Gotti trial demonstrate Breslin's unparalleled access to New York's criminal underbelly and highlight his distinctive style of reporting as storytelling, giving voice to a broad range of people he encountered in local bars and other urban venues. “Some would call this the heart of the New Journalism,” writes Esposito. “Breslin described it as the old journalism, saying that the only thing he and his colleague Tom Wolfe had discovered was that storytelling had been lost in journalism.” Esposito offers insights throughout into Breslin’s methods and the changing landscape of newspapers during his career. While his admiration for Breslin’s journalistic prowess and stature as a significant figure in American journalism is understandable, the book could have benefited from a more nuanced, less sycophantic perspective; it occasionally reads more like a eulogy than a balanced account.
Entertaining and detailed, if overly reverential.
