When I was a college student decades ago at the University of Washington in Seattle, I majored in communications, specifically editorial journalism. Decades after that, I worked for several publications in the northern Virginia area as a reporter and editor. In retrospect, my beats were mundane compared to the globe-trotting escapades that author Deborah Cohen chronicles in “Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War.”
Cohen introduces a close-knit group of cub reporters in the 1920s who proved, through their individual and collective charisma, to be quite an astonishing and astute group.
Fearless Foreign Correspondents
Meet John and Frances Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker, James Vincent “Jimmy” Sheean, and Dorothy Thompson. There were others, but these are the main protagonists in Cohen’s work. They were American reporters who landed foreign correspondent gigs at a time when American media outlets could no longer sit back and rely solely on European sources, but needed feet on the ground.
Their coverage of those tumultuous years in many ways helped shape what Americans knew about the world. It was a heady time. Late hours, smoke-filled rooms, no doubt too much booze, and personal lives that were as chaotic as the dictators’ attempts to overthrow other countries. Cohen’s riveting narrative blends the professional and personal lives of these maverick reporters who bent lots of the rules and ushered in their own brand of journalism.
Richly Researched
Cohen is the Richard W. Leopold professor of history at Northwestern University. Her previous works include “Household Gods: The British and Their Possessions,“ ”The War Come Home: Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914–1939,“ and ”Family Secrets: Living With Shame From the Victorians to the Present Day.” Heavily researched with more than 100 pages comprising detailed notes and an extensive index, she draws on personal memoirs, diaries, and journals to delve into the emotions of the main characters and what drives them.For some readers, the minutiae of their various ascendancies to prominence may be more detailed than necessary. Cohen paints meticulous portraits of their upbringing, family life, and education. What’s most interesting is their introduction to the world of words and the power it can yield. Each had their entry point into the profession, whether it was by dogged determination, luck, or fate; when opportunity came knocking, they willingly dashed through the door.
Cohen takes on a huge task in covering the exploits of several key figures who played a role in the most pivotal time in recent history. These reporters were not only covering major stories, but they also became stories themselves. They were gutsy, courageous, glamorous, and often irreverent.
They were also highly skilled at their craft, competitive, often conceited, always creative, and thirsty for truth. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was a major influencer. Not unaffected by his theories, they were willing to engage in frank, critical scrutiny of themselves and others. Conversations weren’t confined to the latest uprising or challenge to democracy in the world. All topics were on the table—including love, war, sex, death, and a smorgasbord of everything in between.
When in Vienna, their favorite haunt was the Hotel Imperial. There, you would find some combination of journalists gathered to make merry and perhaps play at a bit of one-upmanship on who had secured the latest interview with whom. They worked hard and they played hard.
Frances Gunther, Dorothy Thompson, and Rebecca West were rare women in a predominantly man’s world. They clearly held their own and faced life fearlessly. One of the photographs in the book is of a meeting of the Anglo-American Press Association in Vienna in the early 1930s. Frances Gunther is the only woman present among more than a dozen men.
Readers will get an upfront and personal introduction to a cast of characters who were committed above all to seeking and sharing the truth about a world that, in their minds, was being turned upside down. For them, it was critical that the American populace wake up to what was happening as Europe’s most powerful players looked to change global dynamics.
Pivotal, poignant, powerful, and oftentimes extremely intimate and personal, this book will have readers basking in the writers’ compelling journeys and noteworthy journaling.
