Morning Miracle. Inside the Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life. Dave Kindred. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2010. 266 pp.
Dave Kindred’s book about his former employer fits a predictable story line: Heroic Journalists Strive for Greatness Despite Money-Grubbing Bosses. As a result, the book is fun to read, yet short on erudition.
To be fair, Kindred telegraphs his loyalties in his title. The book’s focus is on the print version (the “morning miracle”) of the Washington Post, which he sees as a “great newspaper” struggling to survive. He begins the book by admitting to being “a hopeless romantic about newspapers,” and ends it by interpreting an intemperate newsroom punch thrown by a crusty editor at an unsuspecting reporter as a morality tale of rage against the dark powers enveloping newspapers.