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Anne Farris Rosen collaborated with her father, John N. Herbers, a former New York Times reporter, to produce this compelling retrospective of national and historical significance. Born in the South during a time of entrenched racial segregation, Herbers witnessed a succession of landmark civil rights uprisings that rocked the country, the world, and his own conscience. His story is a timely and critical illumination on America’s current racial dilemmas and ongoing quest for justice.
Lifetime Achievement Award to John Herbers – 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards
PRAISE FOR DEEP SOUTH DISPATCH
“If it had not been for reporters like John, I do not know what would have happened to us as we fought for civil rights. He was not afraid to get in the way, often risking his life to uncover the truth. He made a lasting contribution to the movement and to America.” – Congressmen John Lewis
“John Herbers has always been one of our heroes. As young reporters we looked to him as a model of ferocity and fairness, devotion and determination. There was never anything ‘fake’ about John. He was the real deal, the best of a breed, and now, thanks to this marvelous book, a new generation of journalists will get to know him and learn from him, just as we did.” – Cokie Roberts, bestselling author and commentator for ABC News and NPR, and Steve Roberts, former New York Times reporter and professor at Georgetown University.
“Herbers’s account of his own moral awakening to racial injustice in the South is one of the most salient aspects of ‘Deep South Dispatch: Memoir of a Civil Rights Journalist.’ John Herbers was among the bravest and most talented, which is why his memoir is such an important record of these critical years in American history.” – Wall Street Journal
“Throughout the 1960s, as he chased down the biggest stories on the civil rights beat, Mr. Herbers sometimes found himself being chased, by angry white mobs and on occasion angry white police officers. All the while, he and his wife, the former Betty Wood, were trying as best they could to give their four daughters some semblance of a normal childhood.” -The Washington Times
“[Herbers’s] self-reflective analysis encapsulates why this memoir is so riveting, and so timely. As we once again find ourselves assessing the role of race in American society, the place of states’ rights and the limits of police force, this memoir reminds us of the critical, resonating facts of a not-so-distant past.” -ArtsAtl.com
“Now, it’s a country mile from patisserie and threads of saffron, but my colleague Jonathan Martin on the politics desk got me reading “Deep South Dispatch,” a memoir by the civil rights reporter John N. Herbers, who died in 2017. Maybe you should, too.” –New York Times Sam Sifton’s “What To Cook This Week”
“Subtitled ‘Memoir of a Civil Rights Journalist,’ ‘Dispatch’ is a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the arc of his reporting, from covering the Emmett Till trial, to the Birmingham church bombing, to marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to the Kennedy assassination…’Dispatch’ is an informative, insightful, personal and telling memoir that pricks the conscience still.” -The Jackson Clarion Ledger
“Readers interested in race relations as well as the importance of a free press will admire this volume.” – Library Journal
“Herbers taps into cold, hard truths to link each chapter of his memoir, a spectacular yet relatable story of conflicting identities. While he dissects a handful of landmark events he’s covered, he also takes readers with him on the fleeting, frequent tangents of introspection that haunted his career.” –The Emory Wheel
Click here to learn more about Deep South Dispatch, order a copy, or write a review.
NATIONAL BOOK TOUR
Book Launch – April 11, 2018. Reagan International Trade Center. Washington, DC
Sidwell Friends School – April 17, 2018. Washington, DC
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum – April 19, 2018. Atlanta, GA
William J. Clinton Presidential Center – April 28, 2018. Little Rock, AR
Arkansas Book Festival – April 29, 2018. Little Rock, AR
HMA2 – May 3, 2018. New York, NY
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication – August 6, 2018. Washington, DC
Mississippi Book Festival – August 19, 2018. Jackson, MS
University of Memphis – September 21, 2018. Memphis, TN
Rhodes College – September 24, 2018. Memphis, TN
University of Mississippi – September 25, 2018. Oxford, MS
National Press Club Book Fair & Authors’ Night – November 2, 2018. Washington, DC
Florida Lecture Series – November 29, 2018. Lakeland, FL
Inkwood Bookstore – November 30, 2018. Tampa, FL
ACCORD Civil Rights Museum – December 1, 2018. St. Augustine, FL
Anastasia Books – December 1, 2018. St. Augustine, FL University of Maryland – February 27, 2019 and April 9, 2019
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library – March 17, 2019. Charlotte, NC Park Road Baptist Church – March 17, 2019. Charlotte, NC Park Road Books – March 18, 2019. Charlotte, NC University of North Carolina Charlotte – March 19, 2019. Charlotte, NC Temple Sinai Author Roundtable – March 23, 2019. Washington, DC American Journalism Historians Association – Oct. 3, 2019. Dallas, TX Southern Methodist University – Oct. 3, 2019. Dallas TX
Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza – Oct. 4, 2019. Dallas, TX Brandeis University Book and Author Luncheon – Oct. 23, 2019. Rockville, MD Sandy Spring Museum – November 15, 2019. Sandy Spring, MD Library of Congress – Feb. 5, 2020. Washington, DC Bethesda Presbyterian Church – Feb. 16, 2020. Bethesda, MD Bethesda Rotary Club – (virtual) April 23, 2021
ACCORD Civil Rights Museum – Dec. 2022. St. Augustine, FL
SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS
(click BELOW to enter)
Clinton Center
Overby Center
Mississippi Book Festival C-Span
National Press Club Podcast
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MEDIA COVERAGE
CBS-WUSA “Great Day Washington” WFLA Tampa “Daytime” AETN – Arkansas PBS
WMNF – Tampa NPR Affiliate
Mississippi Public Broadcasting (at min. 19:06) Montgomery County Maryland Media Channel 21
Sojourners St. Augustine Record
Rhodes College
Pulsefeedz
University of Maryland
University of Maryland College of Journalism
Deborah Kalb
John N. Herbers (1923-2017) worked for more than a decade at United Press
International and was a national reporter for The New York Times for twenty-five years
covering civil rights, national politics, the White House, Congress, urban affairs,
Watergate, and the administrations of six presidents. Author of four books, two on civil
rights and “No Thank You, Mr. President” and “The New Heartland,” he received
numerous awards, including the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism.
250 pages, 6 x 9 inches
30 b&w illustrations
$28.00
IBS 978-1-4968-1674-0
University Press of Mississippi
Anne Farris Rosen 