Deadline Poets Society: A Writer's Life in Newspapers

Not so long ago, newspapers were trusted by their readers. In return, newspapers trusted their readers wanted high-quality journalism. Thorough, factual coverage was standard; and insightful, vivid prose was the bonus. The best daily newspapers were important parts of their communities and of their readers' lives. In "Deadline Poets Society", Bill Osinski celebrates that bygone era. For nearly four decades and for eleven different newspapers, Bill sought to provide a special stylistic touch that would offer readers a whimsical, dramatic, insightful, wry, or heartwarming trip to a place they might never go, a chance to meet people they would never otherwise meet. Along the way, he met people like the suburban super-mom who devoted herself to improving the lives of residents of leprosy colonies, a mother who lost three sons in a coal-mine explosion, a man who was blatantly railroaded to death row, a college freshman who strutted around campus though he had no legs, a young girl who was repeatedly abused by the middle-aged man who claimed to be her god, a man who built himself a covered bridge in his front yard, and a Vietnamese war orphan seeking the American military personnel who had saved her life 35 years ago. Bill and his family moved 17 times during his newspaper years, and he had more editors than he can remember. But his first loyalties were always to the people like the ones in the fifty or so stories in this collection. They freely shared their stories with him and trusted him to tell those stories truly and well.