Writing a biography of journalists is a dicey proposition. After all, journalists are almost always observers, not participants. What they publish is almost entirely dependent on what other people say and do. So why not write biographies of those other people – the movers, the shakers – rather than chronicling the seemingly second-hand lives of the observers?
In the case of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, however, the dicey proposition becomes a safe bet. They are journalists who made a significant difference in American history by helping drive a U.S. president from office, journalists who have achieved celebrity status by publishing serious exposés, journalists who have lived interesting private lives.
Alicia C. Shepard’s dual biography is not the first about Woodward and Bernstein. Thirteen years ago, writer Adrian Havill published “Deep Truth: The Lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.” It shed light on them as journalists and as human beings. Shepard, however, is able to tell the story of the two journalists brought together by chance at the Washington Post more fully.
Shepard is the first journalist to rely heavily on personal papers Woodward and Bernstein sold to the University of Texas archives. Perhaps most powerfully, Shepard is able to discuss the identity of the duo’s previously secret source, the man called Deep Throat in the book and movie that made Woodward and Bernstein famous, “All the President’s Men.”
Shepard, who teaches journalism at American University in Washington, D.C., has written wisely about the successes and failures of reporters and editors for many years, especially for a magazine called American Journalism Review. Because Shepard is so knowledgeable about the inner workings of newsrooms, her dual biography doubles as a primer on journalism. The primer is especially informative for non-journalists about the use and abuse of anonymous sources.
Woodward, going solo after he and Bernstein split over professional differences, quotes anonymous sources in his books and sometimes in his Washington Post pieces. Lots of journalists are patient with or even endorse finding information from anonymous sources as an invaluable tool. Other journalists believe the practice constitutes lax reporting that allows sources to exaggerate or lie without adverse consequences.
For readers who prefer nicely verified gossip, Shepard chronicles the difficulties both men grappled with handling fame and wealth – their divorces, their off-and-on bitterness toward each other, their dismay at the carping of book reviewers, their precarious professional relationships with colleagues at the Washington Post.
The dual biography’s relative brevity is more virtue than drawback. After all, journalists are mostly observers, making large portions of their careers difficult to fit into a compelling narrative. Shepard has found a good balance to minimize the odds of readers exiting early.
Steve Weinberg, a freelance investigative reporter, has written often about the journalistic practices of Woodward and Bernstein.
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Woodward and Bernstein
Life in the Shadow of Watergate
By Alicia C. Shepard
Wiley, 304 pages, $24.95
