Merchant of words : the life of Robert St. John / Terry Fred Horowitz.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Horowitz, Terry Fred, 1933- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• St. John, Robert, 1902-2003.
• St. John, Robert, 1902-2003--Travel.
• Journalists--United States--Biography.
• Journalists.
• Travel.
• United States.
• War correspondents--United States--Biography.
• War correspondents.
• World politics--1945-1989.
• World politics.
• Europe--History--1945-.
• Europe.
• History.
• Middle East--History--20th century.
• Middle East.

Genre:

• Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 413 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2014]

Summary:

During World War II, Robert St. John of NBC broadcast from London opposite CBS's Edward R Murrow. Afterward, St. John would become a noted writer and commentator on world affairs, as well as a prominent and vocal supporter of the state of Israel. In Merchant of Words: The Life of Robert St. John, Terry Fred Horowitz not only documents St John's accomplishments and adventures but takes readers behind the scenes with St. John, who for more than three quarters of a century served as a firsthand witness to history as it was being made in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. From his auspicious beginnings when lying about his age in order to join the U.S. Navy during World War I to his final days as a well-established author and "righteous gentile," St. John was both participant and critical observer of American and world history. In his early days, he served as a newspaper editor-publisher in the United States, breaking a story on prostitution in Cicero, Illinois, that resulted in his beating by Al Capone's mob. When World War II began he became a war correspondent for the Associated Press, later escaping from the Nazis when they invaded Yugoslavia. He subsequently wrote From the Land of Silent People, the first full account of the fall of Yugoslavia and Greece during the war. Shortly afterward, he was hired by NBC as a radio broadcaster, covering the London Blitz and D-Day and becoming the first commentator to announce the end of the war with Japan. During the McCarthy era, he was "pinklisted" and his passport was confiscated for a year, stranding him in Switzerland, where he remained for a decade and a half. During its War of Independence he started his lifelong love affair with Israel, becoming the only foreign correspondent to cover, in person, all of its wars, including the Israel-Lebanon War of 1982, during which he was known as the "dean of correspondents." In addition to working as a regular contributor for the World Book Encyclopedia, St. John eventually wrote twenty-three books, many of them about Israel and the Middle East. These included well-received biographies of David Ben-Gurion (Builder of Israel), Eliezer Ben-Yehudah (Tongue of the Prophets), Abba Eban (Eban), and Gamal Abdul Nasser (The Boss: The Story of Gamal Abdal Nasser). Merchant of Words is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of journalism and the adventures of a recognized war correspondent. For historians and history buffs it offers unique details from a journalist's perspective on World War II, the Cold War, the Red Scare, Vietnam, and the history of Israel and the Middle East. Book jacket.

Contents:

• Prologue
• Growing pains in Illinois
• You're in the Navy now!
• "Tekla" : college bound and out to walk a beat
• First scoops : "Sunny" side up
• Exposing Capone and paying the price
• Archer aping Robert : Robert marrying Eda
• Who gets the credit?
• "How they gonna keep him down on the farm?"
• A.P. war correspondent : saving a Jewish family
• Escaping the Nazis : strafing and shrapnel
• From the land of silent people
• Broadcasting during the Blitz : it's always tomorrow : D-Day : "Golden voice of radio"
• Getting Truman to play the piano : first to announce end of war
• NBC wields the axe : Robert takes a mistress
• The silent people speak and so does Robert : "All American Award"
• Seduced by Israel : Shalom means Peace : Begin and the Irgun
• "Believe it or not" : Red Channels says Robert has communistic leanings : tongue of the prophets
• Apartheid in Africa : witch doctor's potion deadens ear
• This was my world : passport taken away : Archer commits suicide : "You've had your pound of flesh"
• In need of some friends : grand jury
• Ben-Gurion's "Goyisha friend" : Nasser's the boss
• Eichmann trial : JFK meets De Gaulle and Khrushchev
• Three books in one year
• Israel Life World Library : they came from everywhere : the man who played God
• "Gosh, a new career" : R&R
• Roll Jordan roll
• The World Book Encyclopedia : opposes Vietnam War : Encyclopedia of Radio and Television Broadcasting : Six Day War
• Is there any justice? : Jews, justice and Judaism
• Once around lightly : South america more or less
• Abba was I ere I saw Abba
• Yom Kippur War : freedom of information from the CIA, FBI, and State Department
• Dean of war correspondents : despite the witches : "Righteous Gentile" : one hundred years
• Postscript
• Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

• 9780810889064
• 0810889064

OCLC:

861955588