The Berkshire News

In 1873, a twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur named Edward H. Butler arrived in Buffalo, New York, to found a newspaper eventually called the Buffalo Evening News. Under Butler''s aegis the News became one of the most successful newspapers in America, growing along with the thriving city at the end of the Erie Canal, which was expanding rapidly as immigrants poured in and America urbanized. About a century later, in 1977, financial investor Warren E. Buffett, recognizing the value of the paper, bought the Buffalo Evening News, and to this day, despite competition from large media conglomerates, the Buffalo News (as it is now called) remains a successful independent publication. There is no one better to tell the story of the News than Murray B. Light, who held senior editorial positions at the paper for over thirty years. Beginning with the founding of the newspaper by Butler, Light provides a wealth of historical information and many in-depth, behind-the-scenes profiles of key persons who influenced the course of the paper. Chief among these is founder Edward H. Butler, a dynamo of energy, whose enthusiasm, innovation, and high standards are still felt to this day. His son, Edward Butler Jr., also played an important role, extending the reach of the News into radio and television, as did his extraordinary wife, Kate Robinson Butler, who also served as publisher. Almost as influential as the senior Butler was Alfred H. Kirchhofer, whose strong personality and work ethic, staunch Republican Party connections, and active involvement in the Buffalo community became legendary. Readers are offered a rare inside look at the strength of leadership, attention to detail, and accuracy in reporting that are consistently needed to maintain a dedicated subscriber base through such momentous events as the Three-Mile-Island nuclear disaster, the Attica prison riots, and the environmental dangers of Love Canal. Regarding the current owner, Warren Buffett, Light has many interesting insights into his famous low-key, hands-off style of management. He assumed ownership of the News at a critical time, bolstering its financial strength while encouraging complete editorial independence. Light also devotes a chapter to current publisher Stanford Lipsey, a longtime associate of Buffett, highlighting his leadership in the wake of the bitter court dispute with the Courier Express. Along the way Light offers interesting comments on newspaper trends and on many longtime and widely read reporters and columnists, such as Ray Hill, Bob Curran, Lee Coppola, Jeff Simon, Alan Pergament, Donn Esmonde, Janice Okun, Larry Felser, and many others, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonists Bruce Shanks and Tom Toles. This detailed memoir of the persons and events that had a formative influence on a major independent regional newspaper will capture the attention of anyone interested in the history of one of America''s great independent presses.

The gripping story of the Supreme Court’s transformation from a measured institution of law and justice into a highly politicized body dominated by a right-wing supermajority, told through the dramatic lens of its most transformative year, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning law columnist for The New York Times—with a new preface by the author “A dazzling feat . . . meaty, often scintillating and sometimes scary . . . Greenhouse is a virtuoso of SCOTUS analysis.”—The Washington Post In Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in The New York Times have come to expect. In a page-turning narrative, she recounts the twelve months when the court turned its back on its legacy and traditions, abandoning any effort to stay above and separate from politics. With remarkable clarity and deep institutional knowledge, Greenhouse shows the seeds being planted for the court’s eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade, expansion of access to guns, and unprecedented elevation of religious rights in American society. Both a chronicle and a requiem, Justice on the Brink depicts the struggle for the soul of the Supreme Court, and points to the future that awaits all of us.

Written in 1890, at the close of William Morris’s most intense period of political activism, News from Nowhere is a compelling articulation of his mature views on art, work, community, family, and the nature and structure of the ideal society. A utopian narrative of a future society, it is also an immensely entertaining novel. This Broadview edition includes a wide variety of contextualizing documents, including portions of Morris’s essays, lectures, and journalism; excerpts from precursor utopian texts; writings on Bloody Sunday, art, work, and revolution; and contemporary reviews.