Articles written by Wayne Barrett in his investigative reporting. Good insight on times and people during various times. Interesting read. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I'd first heard about Wayne Barrett from journalist Sarah Kendzior's work. I know very little about journalism, New York, or the Village Voice, but Kendzior's admiration of Wayne Barrett has stuck with me. So, when I saw this book was coming out, I decided to read it.

I knew that Wayne Barrett was the most knowledgable person in the country about Donald Trump when he was alive, so I was curious to see if the book might offer some insight into his rise and background. It did. Through reading Barrett's articles, it's wild to see how little the tactics of people like Trump and Giuliani have shifted over time, how long all these crooks have been allowed to get away with their behavior. Decades and decades. No accountability. It appears Barrett really tried to warn us.

This book chronicles some of major stories of Barrett's long career as a journalist primarily for the Village Voice. As someone ignorant of New York City history and politics, and as someone born in the very, very late 1980s, some of stories reprinted in the book were very difficult for me to follow. Names, places, and events, held little to no meaning in my mind. I'm not familiar with many of the major NYC public figures in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s mentioned in the articles, I'm familiar at all with the geography of any of the five New York City boroughs. I longed for annotated explanations to go along with some of the stories to explain why certain points were important or relevant. Again, I blame this on my ignorance and my age.

That said, there are many major figures in Barrett's articles that we all know. Trump. Giuliani. Bloomberg. The Cuomos. The mind blowing bit of it all is that Barrett has been documenting these corrupt, parasitic businessmen and politicians decades before their jaunts on the national stage or Presidential runs. Their sleaziness and their crimes have been out there for a long time, but never ultimately prevented their ongoing success, both financial and political.

Barrett's biting writing spares no punches. It's meticulously sourced and detailed - often to the point of losing me. His stories cover government corruption, police brutality, bribery, ethics violations from businessmen and politicians alike. The stories were a breath of fresh air compared to many of the pieces we read in 2020 about the same individuals Barrett had been mercilessly covering since the 70s or 80s.

This is a great collection for those interested in an overview of Barrett's investigative reporting into US, specifically NYC, political corruption. I enjoyed the little memory snippets written my former Barrett colleagues and interns. If you are not interested in NYC politics, some articles may be difficult or boring to follow. Some portions really dragged for me for that reason.

For those who want to see how monsters like Trump have existed in plain sight for decades and have risen to the forefront of American politics, this provides some excellent and important reading material. I wish we had more American journalists as uncompromising as Wayne Barrett working today.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Bold Type Books for sharing a copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book via netgalley!

This book describes the inquisitive nature of investigative journalism. Specifically that of Wayne Barrett. Interesting glimpse into his career, but also into Trump..way before recent events took place. good read to understand the hard work required of investigative journalism.

Good book. Old articles written over the years by Wayne Barrett. Nothing current obviously. Still an informative read.