52 McGs. The Best Obituaries from Legendary New York Times Reporter Robert McG. Thomas

by Thomas, Robert McG.; Calhoun, Chris

• ISBN13: 9781416598275
• ISBN10: 1416598278
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-04
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

Among his devoted fans, his pieces were known simply as McGs. With a "genius for illuminating that sometimes ephemeral apogee in people's lives when they prove capable of generating a brightly burning spark"(Columbia Journalism Review),Robert McG. Thomas Jr. commemorated fascinating, unconventional lives with signature style and wit.The New York Timesreceived countless letters over the years from readers moved to tears or laughter by a McG. Eschewing traditionally famous subjects, Thomas favored unsung heroes, eccentrics, and underachievers, including: Edward Lowe, the inventor of Kitty Litter ("Cat Owner's Best Friend"); Angelo Zuccotti, the bouncer at El Morocco ("Artist of the Velvet Rope"); and Kay Halle, a glamorous Cleveland department store heiress who received sixty-four marriage proposals ("An Intimate of Century's Giants"). In one of his classic obituaries, Thomas described Anton Rosenberg as a "storied sometime artist and occasional musician who embodied the Greenwich Village hipster ideal of 1950's cool to such a laid-back degree and with such determined detachment that he never amounted to much of anything." Thomas captured life's ironies and defining moments with elegance and a gift for making a sentence sing. He had an uncanny sense of the passion and personality that make each life unique, and the ability, as Joseph Epstein wrote, to "look beyond the facts and the rigid formula of the obit to touch on a deeper truth."Compiled by Chris Calhoun, one of Thomas's most dedicated readers, and with a fittingly sharp introduction from acclaimed novelist and critic Thomas Mallon,52 McGs.will win legions of new fans to the masterful writer who transformed the obituary into an art form.

Author Biography

Robert McG. Thomas Jr. was born and grew up in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Joining The New York Times as a copyboy in 1959, he went on to work for the paper as a police reporter, rewrite man, society news reporter, and sportswriter before turning to obituaries full-time in 1995, the year he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Thomas died in January 2000.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Editor's Note

Widow of Former Slave and Union Soldier

Instigator of a 1930's Craze

Built the Popular Wall Drug

a Novelist Who Wrote of Race Relations

Creator of Soap Operas

Top Genealogist

Founded AIDS Group in Utah

Spain's First U.S. Matador

Created Bridey Murphy Hoopla

Private Detective with a Difference

Hindu Priest with New York Verve

Entrepreneur Headed Lumber Concern

Founder of Trading Stamp Conglomerate

a Real Hustler with a Pool Cue

Pioneering Judge in Pennsylvania

Fabled Fixer for the Chicago Mob

Gave Cats the Lap of Luxury

Executed Viet Cong Prisoner

Used Bookseller for Half a Century

an Intimate of Century's Giants

a Rancher and Texas Legend

Linguist with a Keen Ear for an Accent

Acerbic Memoirist

the Queen of Duckpins' Wobbly World

Hero in Epidemic

Author and Icon

Buried Oswald

Wrong-Way Trip Was the Right Way to Celebrity as an Aviator

a Hipster Ideal

Cat Owners' Best Friend

a Master of Terse Verses on Literature

a Pioneer of Culture on TV

Devoted His Life to Planting Flowers

Stylist to Stars

Favorite Foil of Three Stooges

Helicopter Reporter

World War II Hero

Postmaster Who Brought in the ZIP Code

Keeper of an Ancient Peruvian Puzzle

of Red Baron Era

Known for Travels with Goats

Engineer

Artist of the Velvet Rope

Who Inspired 50's Literary Paris

Master of Fishing Skills and Lore

Was a Civil Rights Crusader

Basket Maker

Defender of Primitive Tribe

Weather Expert

Academic Impresario

Salesman of Insurance and a Partygoer

U.S. Spy in World War II

Chronicler of Unsung Lives

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