–By Christopher D. White

Legendary journalist and Pulitzer Prize co-winner Abe Zaidan near Akron, in November, 2007. Photo by Christopher D. White.

Notable Manuscripts in Circulation:
Abe Zaidan's history of the Civic Theatre, and his first foray into fiction.

Abe Zaidan is a legend: not just in Akron, having been a veteran reporter and editor/columnist for The Akron Beacon Journal for many years, or in Cleveland, where he worked for The Plain Dealer for years–but nationally, too. Zaidan has written hundreds of articles for The Washington Post and most of our nation's other major daily newspapers. His collected political writings, introduced by the esteemed Dr. John C. Green of the Bliss Institute, was recently published by The University of Akron Press. Many people also don't know that he shares a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Kent State shootings.

Zaidan now has two worthy book projects in search of a publisher. One is primarily of local interest, because it's a history of The Civic Theatre, and it features a lot of stories about The Civic's quirky history as a venue that has always been on the edge of impending demise. It also features previously unpublished photos that would be of great interest to a lot of Akronites and former Akronites, regardless of the fact that its appeal is likely to be limited to those who would take an interest in things that are decidedly Akrocentric. But as many of us know, there is a rather significant market for Akrocentrica. Even though there are less than a quarter of a million people residing inside the city limits of Akron, our metro area is at least twice that number, depending on whose estimates you pay attention to, and our country is peopled with pockets of Akron expats who had to leave their beloved Motherland to seek a more gainful future. But Akronites tend maintain a high level of attachment to Rubber City, for one reason or another, even when they're forced to leave — or even when that attachment is of the dysfunctional love-hate variety, because they've been hurt by a town that tends to piss on its best products, and/or piss them off.

The Clevelandcentric publisher Gray and Co. apparently passed on The Civic Theatre history because it was too Akrocentric. I find that to be remarkable, considering how many books from Gray and Co. one will find in Akron, and I think that Gray and Co., of all places, ought to know the value of a book like this, if only in this area.

The other Zaidan book is a novel called Moose, about a newspaper editor by the name of Frank Moosey (A.K.A Moose), who thoroughly enjoys the life of a newspaper man — until the paper is run into the ground by corporate outsiders with no knowledge of the newspaper business and a ruthless obsession with the bottom line.

For all of the accolades that he has received over the years, Zaidan says that he feels more strongly about this novel than anything he's ever written up to this point. This is a very personal piece; he has put his heart into it, and it shows. Those who know Zaidan as the veteran journalist will see an interesting new side to him.

What will be fascinating to average readers is the insider's look into what the newsroom is really like (well, maybe not so much nowadays); but any notion that one might have about reporters being angelic and upstanding do-gooders may be a little shocked to read about the sort of shenanigans and tomfoolery that transpire behind the news-print curtain. The level and frequency of banal and childish behavior that goes on makes it a fun and fascinating read. There's also quite a bit of profanity and tasteless humor, which is refreshing to read about in our overly sanitized age. I can't be the only one who wants to puke when I think that school children nowadays are routinely expected to bring hand sanitizer with them as part of their school supplies (no offense to GOJO — who no doubt sheds no tears over this clean-hands policy). This is a fascinating novel that ought to be picked up by an agent for representation to publishers, because there's no doubt that a lot of people would love to get an insider's view into the newsroom. There's no shortage of, say, "Inside So-and-so State Prison" documentaries and "real stories" from emergency rooms and crime labs, but not much about what it's like to work in mass media.

Click here for information about becoming a member of "The Marquee Club" and helping to support the "Jewel on Main Street." This site also has more information about Civic Theatre, which was built in 1929, and which underwent a major renovation in 2002.

Click here for more about Abe Zaidan's book PORTRAITS OF POWER: OHIO AND NATIONAL POLITICS, 1964-1994. This book is part of the University of Akron Press's Series on Ohio Politics. Though the University of Akron Press does publish quite a few titles of local interest, quite a few of its offerings are of national interest, including the Akron Series in Poetry, which is a well known national poetry book series.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Abe Zaidan, Authors from Ohio, Award-winning writers, Book publishing, Famous Akron Authors, Journalists, Notable Manuscripts in Search of a Publisher or Literar, Novelists, Novels and Novelists, Ohio Journalists, Uncategorized, famous authors from Ohio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.