Almost a Family - A Memoir

Zusatztext 77496101 Informationen zum Autor John Darnton has worked for The New York Times for forty years as a reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent. He is the recipient of two George Polk Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of five novels, including The Darwin Conspiracy and the best seller, Neanderthal. He lives in New York City. Klappentext From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author: a beautifully crafted memoir of his lifelong chase after his father's shadow. John was eleven months old when his father! Barney Darnton-a war correspondent for The New York Times-was killed in World War II. John's mother! a well-known reporter and editor! perpetuated a myth of Barney as a hero who gave his life for his family! country! and the fourth estate. Decades after his father's death! John and his brother! the historian Robert Darnton! began digging into the past to discover who the real-life Barney Darnton was. When they did! they found a man who was far different from the story they had grown up with. Intensely moving and vividly descriptive! Almost a Family is the compelling story of one man's search for the truth. PROLOGUE One of the few acknowledgments of my existence to come from my father happened in the middle of a feud between the Darnells and the Watsons on the banks of the Mississippi in the 1840s. That is, in the description of such a feud in Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. There, halfway down page 210, just as friends of the ferryman shoot old Darnell through and through—“filled him full of bullets, and ended him”—lies an X in the margin. At the page’s bottom, the X is explained:   Nov 20, 1941—1:40 AM. As I was reading this in French Hospital, N.Y., Dr. Heaton came into the waiting room and said: “You’ve got another boy.”—It was John. —B. D.   I like my father’s handwriting. It’s in thick black pencil straight across the full width of both pages, sprawling and virile. The “B.” and the “D.”—for Byron ­Darnton—­are ­full-­bellied. No question about it: It is a declaration for history. Looking closely, I see the “20” after “November” is superimposed over a “19.” A natural mistake: It’s 1:40 a.m. Perhaps he’s sleepy and thinks it’s still the night before. Or maybe he’s so excited by the news that he wants to get it down and only a moment later, rereading, realizes his error. I picture the waiting room in my imagination. It’s a stuffy enclosure off the entrance to the maternity ward: two windows, ­grime-­covered, a lineup of ­straight-­backed metal chairs, a ­beaten-­down couch, framed prints of British foxhunting scenes on the wall, a rack with ragged copies of Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, two ­stand-­up ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts, a radiator pumping away in the corner and worn linoleum on the ­floor—­or maybe a thin carpet. I see my father waiting there, reading. He’s sitting comfortably, ­self-­contained, right foot resting on his left knee. His eyes sparkle with amusement at a nervous young man walking in and out from the corridor. They’ve exchanged a few friendly words. He provides the comfort of an older man, an old hand at this. A smile is ready to break out under his bushy dark mustache. He’s wearing a tweed jacket around his broad shoulders, and his dark brown trousers are beginning to lose the sharpness of their crease. His overcoat and fedora are hanging from a coatrack. Is he smoking? Surely. But what? Luckies? Camels? Is he carrying his fancy ­leather-­bound flask, and does he offer the young man a swig of whiskey? He goes back to reading, back to the Mississippi. The door swings open and the doctor comes in to tell him about me. He stands up to take the news, beams, and pumps the doctor’s hand.   But what is he feeling? Had he wanted a girl? Is he worried about his wife? Does he feel the rush of second ­fatherhood—­...

Product details

• Authors: John Darnton
• Publisher: Anchor Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.04.2012
• EAN: 9780307278807
• ISBN: 978-0-307-27880-7
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 18 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Journalism