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Article: Alden Whitman. (New York Times reporter) (obituary)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- October 1, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Alden Whitman
In his fifty-second year on this wicked old planet, Alden Whitman concluded that there was one too many lines in Ecclesiastes. And just like that, he knew he could create something new under the sun. With The New York Times as his calling card, he'd travel the world interviewing its movers and shakers, promising them one thing only: They would never get to read what he wrote about them.
In all the history of journalism, including the caves, nobody ever thought to draw the future dead into their own obituaries, and if anybody had he would surely not have had the chutzpah to condition the deal on never seeing the product. "All is vanity, a ...