columns Just the facts At a time when hard-hitting journalism is under siege within the halls of power and, more insidiously, under threat of extinction because of the economics of the internet, Seymour M. Hersh’s memoir, Reporter (Knopf, $27.95, 368 pages, ISBN 9780307263957), is a welcome tonic. A legend among investigative journalists, Hersh broke some of the most important stories of the last 50 years, and this engaging account of his career during the golden age of journalism is, not surprisingly, filled with colorfully told anecdotes of the art of getting the story. Hersh’s own origin story is right out of a Horatio Alger novel. The son of Jewish immigrants, Hersh grew up on Chicago’s South Side, working in his father’s store in a largely black neighborhood, playing or watching baseball when he could. After his father’s death, Hersh ran the family business while also attending the University of Chicago. After dropping out of law school, he kicked around at some inconsequential jobs before landing at the rough-and-tumble City News Bureau of Chicago as a copy boy and then a field reporter, and his rapport with the black community in the heavily segregated, openly racist city gave him his first taste of the importance of finding and respecting sources. He worked for The Associated Press in far-flung Pierre, South Dakota, before making it back to Chicago and then Washington, D.C. For all his talent and ambition, though, Hersh struggled to make his mark or land a job with a major paper. He even worked briefly as press secretary in Senator Eugene McCarthy’s anti-war presidential campaign. Then history intervened. While freelancing out of the National Press Building, Hersh got a vague tip about the court-martialing of a GI for killing civilians in South
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COOKING
WELL READ
BY SYBIL PRATT
BY ROBERT WEIBEZAHL
A legendary cafe Vietnam. The story of what came to be known as the My Lai Massacre was being kept from the public by the military, and Hersh went to work with his usual dogged determination, tracking down the accused, Lt. William L. Calley Jr., who was under house arrest at Fort Benning, Georgia. The chapters about uncovering the My Lai story, which took Hersh deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole that was the Pentagon’s waging of an unwinnable war, unreel like a tightly plotted suspense film. Unable to interest a major publication in the story, Hersh—with his trademark moxie—self-syndicated it. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, a rarity for a freelance journalist. Still, his dream job at the New York Times eluded him, and he went to work for The New Yorker. When he finally landed at the Times, he continued to report on Vietnam and foreign affairs until a new story took over the headlines: Watergate. Later, back at The New Yorker, Hersh covered the war on terror, consistently This is a calling out captivating the lies of the memoir Bush-Cheney White House that could inspire a new and bringing shocking revgeneration of elations about journalists. the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib to light. Hersh, who quotes the Times as calling him “scruffy, scrappy, stubborn, loud,” argues that his achievements have come not from his personality but from doing the work that is the essence of good journalism: a lot of reading, conducting interviews and finding the sources. The stories in his book bear out these claims. Reporter is a captivating memoir that could inspire a new generation of journalists—assuming they still have the financial support to find their stories and a place to tell them.
The River Cafe, the subtly swank, Michelin-starred London restaurant, celebrated its 30th birthday last year, but it still has all its original panache. Co-founders Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, with the aid of their head chefs, Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli, decided to honor the occasion with River Cafe London: Thirty Years of Recipes and the Story of a Much-Loved Restaurant (Knopf, $40, 320 pages, ISBN 9780525521303), which revisits the first River Cafe cookbook, published in 1995. Now those iconic recipes are presented with the delectable patinas they’ve acquired from being refined over the years, plus more than 30 new creations. From antipasti to dolci, Raw Porcini
Salad to a Pear and Almond Tart, this is Italian food at its finest. Fresh and never fussy, these are the simple, sensational foods you’d eat in an Italian home. And River Cafe London is beautifully designed, featuring bold colors (check out the hot-pink edges and orange endpapers) and fabulous photos throughout. Just looking through it will make you smile.
GATHERING GO-TOS An arsenal of tried-and-true recipes for a weeknight quickie supper or a more elaborate weekend dinner party is essential for any home cook. These are the culinary rabbits we pull out of our chef’s hats, the dishes that save us when it’s late, when guests turn up out of the blue or when we want to make a familiar favorite. Most of us collect them, helter-skelter, through the years, but every once in a while a food pro who’s been pondering what becomes a keeper lets us in on their personally curated treasure trove. Jessica Battilana, a longtime recipe
developer and food writer, has done just that in Repertoire: All the Recipes You Need (Little, Brown, $32, 240 pages, ISBN 9780316360340). To rev up and revitalize your own repertoire, you can pick and choose from starters, mains and sweets—or you could just cook your way through Battilana’s admirable array of inviting, never-fail recipes like Avocado and Citrus Salad, Spaghetti Niçoise and a Perfect Tarte Tatin.
TOP PICK IN COOKING When Todd Richards was growing up on the South Side of Chicago, his parents and grandparents cooked food that wasn’t on the menus of “fine dining” establishments. So this self-taught, James Beard-nominated chef, who paid his dues in many well-known kitchens before getting national attention, did some deep soul-searching before he opened Richards’ Southern Fried in Atlanta, where he honors the cuisine of his family and ancestors in flavorful, inventive ways. Though the food he creates has its roots in African-American traditions, Richards has liberated himself from labels and “supposed to’s,” incorporating inspiration from around the world. In Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes (Oxmoor House, $35, 368 pages, ISBN 9780848754419), he shares his passion for Southern cuisine and culture, offering up traditional ingredients in traditional dishes, then riffing on them. You might start with Collard Greens with Smoked Ham Hocks and Cornbread and end up with Oysters Poached in Collard Green Pesto on Cheese Crisps with Caviar. It’s soul-satisfying from beginning to end.