Almost a Family
John Darnton
- From
- the
- Pulitzer
- Prize–winning
- journalist
- and
- best-selling
- author:
- a
- beautifully
- crafted
- memoir
- of
- his
- lifelong
- chase
- after
- his
- father’s
- shadow.John
- was
- eleven
- months
- old
- when
- his
- father,
- Barney
- Darnton—a
- war
- correspondent
- for
- *The
- New
- York
- Times—*was
- killed
- in
- World
- War
- II,
- but
- his
- absence
- left
- a
- more
- profound
- imprint
- on
- the
- family
- than
- any
- living
- father
- could
- have.
- John’s
- mother,
- a
- well-known
- Times
- reporter
- and
- editor,
- tried
- to
- keep
- alive
- the
- dream
- of
- raising
- her
- two
- sons
- in
- ideal
- surroundings.
- When
- that
- proved
- impossible,
- she
- collapsed
- emotionally
- and
- physically.
- But
- along
- the
- way
- she
- created
- such
- a
- powerful
- myth
- of
- the
- father-hero
- who
- gave
- his
- life
- for
- his
- family,
- country,
- and
- the
- fourth
- estate
- that
- John
- followed
- his
- footsteps
- into
- the
- same
- newsroom.Decades
- after
- his
- father’s
- death,
- John
- and
- his
- brother,
- the
- historian
- Robert
- Darnton,
- began
- digging
- into
- the
- past
- to
- uncover
- the
- truth
- about
- their
- parents.
- To
- discover
- who
- the
- real-life
- Barney
- Darnton
- was—and
- in
- part
- who
- he
- himself
- is—John
- delves
- into
- turn-of-the-century
- farm
- life
- in
- Michigan,
- the
- anything-goes
- Jazz
- Age
- in
- Greenwich
- Village,
- the
- lives
- of
- hard-drinking
- war
- correspondents
- in
- the
- Pacific
- theater,
- and
- the
- fearful
- loneliness
- of
- the
- McCarthy
- years
- in
- Washington,
- D.C.
- He
- ends
- his
- quest
- on
- a
- beach
- in
- Papua
- New
- Guinea,
- where
- he
- learns
- about
- his
- father’s
- last
- moments
- from
- an
- aged
- villager
- who
- never
- forgot
- what
- he
- saw
- sixty-five
- years earlier.
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