Deadline Artists edited by John Avlon, Jesse Angelo, and Errol Louis

Subtitled America's Greatest Newspaper Columns this is a collection of some of the most famous works of some of the most important newspaper columnists this country has produced.

This is a very enjoyable book. I am a big reader of newspapers and especially columnists so this book was right up my alley. Currently I follow writers such as Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, David Brooks, Paul Krugman, and Ross Douthat of The New York Times, and many others including Pat Buchanan Joe Scarborough from the Republican camp.

I will say that the book is not perfect. I was not enamored of all the writers, I always find humorists to be pretty hit and miss and in this book I think that the same occurs.

Some of the articles are to be treasured. Writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Ernie Pyle were among the best of the World War II era. Pyle was himself killed in action as he moved about with the troops.

Over the years Jimmy Breslin wrote some articles never to be forgotten including two covering the assassination of President Kennedy that are a pair of the best you will ever read. A column Breslin wrote about the man who dug the grave for the President still can haunt you.

I read many sportswriters today and enjoy them. Rick Reilly is occasionally brilliant but is always arrogant and this diminishes him often. In the book several articles stand out including Peter Gammons on the unforgettable Game Six of the 1975 World Series, Jack Newfield's article on Mohammad Ali, interestingly hoping he would retire with the title after regaining it from Leon Spinks, and for a change of pace you will not find an article to surprise you more than Bill Plaschke's masterpiece Her Blue Heaven.

Mike Royko and Mike Barnicle became fixtures in their home cities of Chicago and Boston and with a few of the articles including especially Royko's paean to the deceased Richard Daly show us why.

One of the most eloquent writers for the last quarter century has been George Will. With politics his game it is interesting to note that several of Will's most famous pieces are about baseball and in this collection an essay on the death of his mother and an exquisite writing about his 21 year old son with down syndrome. There is a reason George Will is one of the most respected writers of his generation and we see some examples here.

Easily picked up by me in this collection was the fact that even comparing some of the writers today, such as Will on the right and Michael Kinsley on the left, with their former selves writing decades ago is that the writers they were years ago were much more generous to the other side, much less venomous. It seems that even in our greatest writers, perhaps unconsciously so, have become more partisan, more harsh. I am sure that this is not a good thing.

This book is very solid and the great thing about a collection such as this is that some of the articles which meant less to me might be superior to you. With a collection like this you cannot go wrong.