Overview

The Evening Star: The Rise and Fall of a Great Washington Newspaper is the story of the 129-year history of one of the preeminent newspapers in journalism history when city newspapers across the country were at the height of their power and influence. The Star was the most financially successful newspaper in the Capital and among the top ten in the country until its decline in the 1970s. The paper began in 1852 when the capital city was a backwater southern town. The Star’s success over the next century was due to its singular devotion to local news, its many respected journalists, and the historic times in which it was published. The book provides a unique perspective on more than a century of local, national and international history. The book also exposes the complex reasons for the Star’s rise and fall from dominance in Washington’s newspaper market. The Noyes and Kauffmann families who owned and operated the Star for a century play an important role in that story. Patriarch Crosby Noyes’ life and legacy is the most fascinating –a classic Horatio Alger story of the illegitimate son of a Maine farmer who by the time of his death was a respected newspaper publisher and member of Washington’s influential elite. In 1974 his descendants sold the once-great newspaper Noyes built to Joseph Allbritton. Allbritton and then Time, Inc. tried to save the Star but failed.

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9780742548725

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Reviews

The rise and fall of the Washington Star stands as a morality tale for modern journalism. Faye Haskins' careful history reveals how the Star became a great paper, how well it covered the news of its day, and why it failed to survive. -- Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps

The rise and fall of the Washington Star stands as a morality tale for modern journalism. Faye Haskins' careful history reveals how the Star became a great paper, how well it covered the news of its day, and why it failed to survive. -- Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps Faye Haskins has done it. She has taken us back in time to a past of glory and, yes, gore, to good times and bad, the bitter and the sweet. The life and death of an institution like the Washington Evening Star is painful enough to live through; to believe that a great paper's and a great city's fates were intertwined. Reading that history leaves one with the realization that a dying publication was not indicative of a dying city. Faye's recapitulation forces one to wish the Evening Star's fate had mirrored that of Washington. And that is a painful reminder for all of us exes who were so Star Struck. -- Paul Delaney, Former New York Times National Editor From age 16 to 21, I was lucky enough to learn the craft of newspapering at The Washington Evening Star. Faye Haskins now masterfully gives us both the history of this greatest of American afternoon newspapers and captures the spirit of its unique role for more than 150 years in the life of the Capital of the United States. Along the way, she paints indelible portraits of those who, in the 1950s and 60s especially, reported and wrote-usually on deadline-stories that represent an incomparably vivid account of this pivotal era of our national life. No newsroom in those days could have been more exciting or committed to the highest principles of journalism. I know: because this wonderful band of reporters and editors were my teachers. -- Carl Bernstein Though it pains me to admit it, for much of its life The Evening Star was the best newspaper in Washington, with a broad and talented bench of ink-stained journalists who loved it like a sailor loves his ship. That The Star was eclipsed is a sad fact. But Faye Haskins won't let it be forgotten. Her account of the newspaper's 129-year history is important reading for anyone who has an affection for journalism or Washington or both. -- John Kelly, Metro Columnist, The Washington Post

The rise and fall of the Washington Star stands as a morality tale for modern journalism. Faye Haskins' careful history reveals how the Star became a great paper, how well it covered the news of its day, and why it failed to survive. -- Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps Faye Haskins has done it. She has taken us back in time to a past of glory and, yes, gore, to good times and bad, the bitter and the sweet. The life and death of an institution like the Washington Evening Star is painful enough to live through; to believe that a great paper's and a great city's fates were intertwined. Reading that history leaves one with the realization that a dying publication was not indicative of a dying city. Faye's recapitulation forces one to wish the Evening Star's fate had mirrored that of Washington. And that is a painful reminder for all of us exes who were so Star Struck. -- Paul Delaney, Former New York Times National Editor From age 16 to 21, I was lucky enough to learn the craft of newspapering at The Washington Evening Star. Faye Haskins now masterfully gives us both the history of this greatest of American afternoon newspapers and captures the spirit of its unique role for more than 150 years in the life of the Capital of the United States. Along the way, she paints indelible portraits of those who, in the 1950s and 60s especially, reported and wrote-usually on deadline-stories that represent an incomparably vivid account of this pivotal era of our national life. No newsroom in those days could have been more exciting or committed to the highest principles of journalism. I know: because this wonderful band of reporters and editors were my teachers. -- Carl Bernstein

Author Information

Faye Haskins was Archivist and then Photo Librarian in the Special Collections Division, Washingtoniana Collection at the District of Columbia Public Library where the Papers of the Washington Star Newspaper and the Star Photo Collection are held. She holds Masters degrees in History and Library Science from the University of Maryland and is the author of The Art of D.C. Politics: Broadsides, Banners, and Bumper Stickers and Behind the Headlines: The Evening Star’s Coverage of the 1968 Riots, journal articles published in Washington History, a publication of the Historical Society of Washington, DC. She is an independent author and historian. She resides in the Hill Country near Austin, Texas.

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