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Written by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

• Format: Trade Paperback, 544 pages
 
• Publisher: Vintage
• On Sale: September 4, 2007
• Price: $17.00
• ISBN: 978-0-679-73565-6 (0-679-73565-8)

about this book

This is the story of how America awakened to its race problem, of how a nation that longed for unity after World War II came
instead to see, hear, and learn about the shocking indignities and injustices of racial segregation in the South—and the brutality used to enforce it. It is the story of how the nation's press, after decades of ignoring the problem, came to recognize the importance of the civil rights struggle and turn it into the most significant domestic news event of the twentieth century.

Drawing on private correspondence, notes from secret meetings, unpublished articles, and interviews, veteran journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff go behind the headlines and datelines to show how a dedicated cadre of newsmen—first black reporters, then liberal southern editors, then reporters and photographers from the national press and the broadcast media—revealed to a nation its most shameful shortcomings and propelled its citizens to act.


Meticulously researched and vividly rendered, The Race Beat is an extraordinary account of one of the most calamitous
periods in our nation's history, as told by those who covered it.

"Magnificent . . . not just a history of a volatile time—rich in detail, powerful and compelling—but also a reminder of the importance of the press to a democracy." —Newsday

"A compelling reminder of the need for a vibrant and free press, with the resources and resourcefulness to shine a light on the
nation's wrongs." —The Boston Globe

"Fascinating. . . . Just when you think there's nothing left to say about the civil rights movement, [The Race Beat] pulls you
back in." —The Los Angeles Times