Memoirs by Journalists

Memoirs are for remembrance. And the remembrances of journalists, when they take book form, are what I think of as "and then I met" books. In my time as a journalist I have met many what we call great men--at least celebrated men. But in Growing Up I was not interested in doing an "and I met" book." My prime interest was to celebrate people that nobody heard of, people I was terribly fond of. I thought these people deserved to be known.

Russell Baker in Inventing the Truth, edited by William Zinsser, 1998