`Last American Editor, Vol. 2’ gives readers another 90 stories
By Ken Tingley
There were some in the newspaper business who took offense to the title of my first book, “The Last American Editor.”
When I asked a colleague at another newspaper for an endorsement, he refused to even look at the book.
The title was a metaphor I argued for what we were losing in the newspaper industry. It was not specifically about me or my newspaper. It didn’t seem to matter to him. He has not talked to me since.
I carried the metaphor into my second book “The Last American Newspaper.” It chronicled the difference our newspaper made in the Glens Falls region over 20 years. It told the story of the men and women who did the journalism and made a difference.
With the recent news my old newspaper will be published just three times a week and delivered by the Post Office, it seems like the metaphor is slowly and relentlessly becoming a reality.
Most people talk about the loss of local news, the important information communities need to address problems and improve the world where they live. But there is also a story-telling component that added a dimension beyond the headlines of the day. The columns that often made the newspaper an enjoyable reading experience, chronicling not only news and events, but the inspirational stories of the people who lived there.
My first book was a collection of columns that fed that need.
It is something we don’t have anymore, at least not on a regular basis.
It is one of the reasons why Will Doolittle and I continue to write columns in this newsletter. We’re trying to help fill the void.
One reader of my first book told me he didn’t usually read books, but he read this one.
That’s pretty good compliment.
Hard to beat that for an endorsement.
So this past winter I went back into the archives to see what else I had. It turned out the material was there for a second volume of columns. So beginning on Friday, June 30, Something or Other Publishing will be taking preorders for “The Last American Editor, Vol. 2.”
The book should be out sometime in August.
For those of you who subscribe to The Front Page, you get first crack at the preorders.
The preorders ($19.95) are important to authors like me. They provide the publisher with an idea of how many books to print and help with the future marketing of the book. You also get some extras if you order now:
Buy one copy of the book now and get the ebook version of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Buy three copies (great presents) and get a print copy of Vol. 1, an ebook version of Vol. 2 and another three ebooks from the Something or Other Publishing catalog.
But the real selling point are 90 more stories of local people, events and issues that have stood the test of time and become part of local history.
Volume 2 is again divided into six sections: People; Hometown, USA; Life & Death; Sports; The World; and My Life.
Here are some highlights:
- People - From November 1, 2001 my column on the funeral for Rep. Gerald Solomon.
- Hometown, USA - From July 13, 2001, my column on the Finch, Pruyn strike.
- Life & Death - From March 5, 1995, my column on the shocking suicide of an Argyle basketball player right before the sectional championship.
- Sports - From Dec. 23, 1993, my column on the retiring Glenn Merkosky’s number by the Adirondack Red Wings.
- The World - From June 27, 2012, World War II veteran Floyd Dumas tells his story of escaping the Germans and one special song.
- My Life - From Dec. 30, 2001, a letter to my my son about the grandfather he would never know.
What I discovered while promoting the first book and talking to readers my column was chronicling part of our region’s history. I may be most proud of that.
When I showed some of the columns to a few of my colleagues, they were kind.
We used to see Newsday sportswriter John Valenti at the state basketball tournament every year. He wrote this about the new book: “Ken Tingley doesn’t just tell stories of small-town America, but stories that are the heart-and-soul, the backbone, of all America: the joyous, the heartfelt, the redemptive and the soul-searching.”
Bill Sternberg, a USA Today editorial writer I regularly ran into at national conferences wrote: “Ken Tingley’s columns – about life and death, success and failure, problems and solutions in the North Country and beyond – stand the test of time.”
Right after Whitehall native Tim Layden landed the gig of a lifetime at Sports Illustrated, I traveled to New Jersey for an interview. One of my final columns in 2019 was about Layden’s retirement from SI. He wrote this: "Ken Tingley's powerful writing crackles with the type of confidence that grows from a deep immersion in his own community. The unspoken truth in his work is that his style of local writing is a dying art; read him to understand its power."
Then there is this from Diane Kennedy, president of the New York News Publishers Association and powerful advocate for journalists all across upstate. She wrote: "As editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., Ken opened his heart to his community and welcomed the community into the heart of his newsroom, sharing the pain of loss and the joy of celebration.”
For years at The Post-Star we tried to match the journalism of the Albany Times Union and I later learned its editors were often looking over their shoulders at us. Their long-time editor Rex Smith wrote: “The columns compiled here reveal a committed journalist serving his community - by exulting in its triumphs, taking note of its shortcomings and always advocating for its hopes. Ken's sensitive and insightful probing of the daily lives of people in the southern Adirondacks turns into heartfelt storytelling of the sort that is too often missing from contemporary American journalism.”
And finally, from my long-time colleague and Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Mahoney who wrote: “There are two things that strike me whenever I read any of Ken Tingley's columns. The first is how I always seem to get lost in the story. The second is how much people are now being forever deprived of these stories, these memories, these experiences, these life moments.”
Of course the best part is that you readers aren’t being deprived because you get a chance to enjoy a second volume of “The Last American Editor.”
I hope you support my third book the way you have my first two. I will be making the rounds in the fall to talk about the past, present and future of journalism so stay tuned.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your support.
Looking forward to reading your third book.!
I enjoyed the first volume and can't wait to get the second! Thank you Ken