The Swamp Root Chronicle: Adventures in the Word Trade

Born in 1919, Manning ( The American Experience in Vietnam ) chronicles his varied and exciting journalistic career in a diverting autobiography. Work as a copyboy and then a reporter for his hometown newspaper, the Binghamton (N.Y.) Press , led Manning to interesting assignments with the AP and UPI during WW II. While a writer for Time , he was tapped to become President John F. Kennedy's press liaison. A successful stint from 1966 to 1980 as editor-in-chief of the prestigious Atlantic ended bitterly when real-estate developer Mort Zuckerman bought the magazine and fired Manning. Portraits of Ernest Hemingway, Henry Luce, JFK and other literary and political figures Manning worked with add further spice to this buoyant, good-humored memoir. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)