Weisskopf, Michael 1945(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1945; married Rebekah Eden (a singer); children: three. Education: Earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University; Johns Hopkins University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC.

CAREER:

Journalist. Washington Post, reporter, c. 1977-1997, Chinese correspondent, 1980-85; Time, Washington, DC, senior correspondent, 1997—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pulitzer Prize finalist, 1996; Goldsmith Award, Harvard University Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy, 1998, for investigative reporting; Henry R. Luce Award, 1999, for writing an outstanding story; Fourth Estate Award, U.S. Army, 2004; George Polk Award; Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting of Congress; National Headliners Award; Daniel Pearl Award for courage and integrity in journalism.

WRITINGS:

(With David Maraniss) Tell Newt to Shut Up! Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Susan Schmidt) Truth at Any Cost: Ken Starr and the Unmaking of Bill Clinton, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57, H. Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to numerous periodicals, including Time, Baltimore Sun, Montgomery Advertiser, and Washington Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Weisskopf is a journalist who worked for the Washington Post for twenty years before becoming a senior correspondent for Time. He covered many world events over the years and won a number of prestigious awards for his work.

Weisskopf published his first book in 1996 with David Maraniss. Tell Newt to Shut Up! Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution uses hundreds of interviews and close access to Congressional proceedings to recreate a detailed account of the Republican lawmakers' Contract with America in the 1990s. The authors cover various projects and the engineers and lawmakers behind them. The book espouses both the benefits and negative aspects of the various projects.

Bob Schildgen, writing in Sierra, described the book as "a bracing read for those intent on kicking Newt Gingrich and his anti-environmental minions out of Congress." Schildgen also noted that "the brighter side is the tale of a democracy still alive enough to" hold those in Congress accountable for recklessness with the environment and other issues. Writing in the Political Science Quarterly, Richard M. Pious remarked that Tell Newt to Shut Up! "has almost no analysis, historical context, or theoretical framework. The authors do little with what they presented early on as a thesis: that Gingrich lost the revolution because he didn't understand that he would have to play by the rules of celebrity media, not traditional political media." Pious conceded, however, that the book "is written flawlessly in a snappy and irreverent style."

Published in 2000, Truth at Any Cost: Ken Starr and the Unmaking of Bill Clinton was written by Weisskopf and Susan Schmidt. The book reopens the legal case Bill Clinton faced while being prosecuted by Kenneth Starr and his team, covering all the leaks, legal twists, and media-incited drama. Stephen Pomper, reviewing the book in the Washington Monthly, stated: "Unfortunately, Truth at Any Cost doesn't give us all that's required to make that case. It buries the reader in a series of detail-driven sketches apparently intended to show how a group of basically decent guys (they were mostly guys) were driven bananas by a relentless delay and smear campaign orchestrated out of the White House. But having done what it can in that department, the book tends to punt on the big questions that tarnish the prosecutors' reputations." Pomper added that the authors "give less than insightful treatment [to] Starr's relationship with the press."

Weisskopf published Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57 in 2006. This personal account details how, as an embedded journalist in Iraq, Weisskopf had his hand blown off by a grenade that was thrown into his vehicle. His actions at the time saved the other soldiers and his photographer from injury and the U.S. Army granted him access to medical care at Walter Reed Medical Center. As the first civilian granted access to treatment in the amputee ward, Weisskopf decided to write about his experience there with three other amputees.

Nathaniel Tripp, writing in the New York Times Book Review, stated: "In this war where the public is prevented even from seeing photographs of returning coffins, the grim reality of these men's sacrifice becomes clear. Blood Brothers is a fine and heartfelt work honoring them." Ray Ward, writing on New Book Reviews.org, described the book as a "moving story" and "exceptional." Ward added that after reading it, "you will want to stand up … and cheer." Mary Ann Smyth, writing on the BookLoons Web site, found the tale to be "a hard book to read." Smyth added, however, that the book "should be read. Not necessarily to be enjoyed, but rather to acquaint ourselves with the men and woman who have been sent to war. And to say a heartfelt thank you." In a Curled Up with a Good Book Web site review, Pamela Crossland wrote: "I was moved to tears many times but never to pity and always left with respect and admiration for the men and women whose lives were touched by the war in Iraq and Ward 57." Suzie Housley, writing on the MyShelf.com Web site, noted that the book provided her with "a greater appreciation" for the sacrifices made by war heroes and recommended the account "very highly." Housley also commented that Blood Brothers "really touched me like no other book I have read in a VERY long time. With each of the host of characters, I felt their inner suffering and triumphed at how they overcame their own obstacles." Joel W. Tscherne, reviewing the work in Library Journal, thought that Weisskopf's account was made "even better" by including the tales of the other soldiers in the ward. Tscherne, who "strongly recommended" the book, concluded that "Weisskopf recognizes his own experience in that of the soldiers, making for a wonderful story of tragedy and recovery." James E. Varner, writing in the Military Review, noted that "Weisskopf captures the tremendous effort the government makes in treating its wounded soldiers." Varner also mentioned that "one will likely find the individual stories disturbing, yet the knowledge that our nation keeps faith with its warriors, regardless of expense, is uplifting." A contributor to Publishers Weekly felt that readers who are not fond of "inspirational stories will still find plenty of technical and medical details of one tragic, little-publicized consequence of the Iraq war." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews observed that "Weisskopf meticulously recounts how he and the soldiers around him made the dark and excruciating journey from wreckage to recovery." Ronald Glasser, writing in the Washington Monthly, commented that "what happened to Weisskopf was a piece of terrible luck. But he has put his experience to good use, and given the rest of us a real insight into the private worlds of the injured soldiers who are coming back from this war in the thousands." Booklist contributor Roland Green described the book as "riveting, graphic accounts of the current war and its toll on individuals." Another contributor to Kirkus Reviews said that in writing the account, Weisskopf "has a job to do," and points out that "he does it well." The same contributor concluded that the book serves as "an unflinching depiction of the aftermath of war and of the spirit of those who live through it."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Weisskopf, Michael, Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57, H. Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

American Spectator, July 1, 2000, Terry Eastland, review of Truth at Any Cost: Ken Starr and the Unmaking of Bill Clinton, p. 86.

Army, June, 2007, Kevin M. Hymel, review of Blood Brothers, p. 82.

Biography, fall, 2000, Donald E. Westlake, review of Truth at Any Cost.

Booklist, August 1, 2006, Roland Green, review of Blood Brothers, p. 35.

Economist, July 29, 2000, review of Truth at Any Cost, p. 97.

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2006, review of Blood Brothers, p. 20; July 1, 2006, review of Blood Brothers, p. 670.

Library Journal, September 15, 2006, Joel W. Tscherne, review of Blood Brothers, p. 77.

Military Review, January 1, 2007, James E. Varner, review of Blood Brothers, p. 115.

New York Review of Books, June 6, 1996, Garry Wills, review of Tell Newt to Shut Up! Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution, p. 11.

New York Times Book Review, October 22, 2006, Nathaniel Tripp, review of Blood Brothers.

Political Science Quarterly, spring, 1997, Richard M. Pious, review of Tell Newt to Shut Up!

Publishers Weekly, August 7, 2006, review of Blood Brothers, p. 47.

Sierra, September 1, 1996, Bob Schildgen, review of Tell Newt to Shut Up!, p. 59.

Time, January, 2005, author profile.

Washington Monthly, July, 2000, Stephen Pomper, review of Truth at Any Cost, p. 52; April, 2007, Ronald Glasser, review of Blood Brothers, p. 46.

ONLINE

Army News Service,http://www4.army.mil/ (August 19, 2004), Lorie Jewell, "Army Honors Time Magazine Reporter."

BookLoons,http://www.bookloons.com/ (January 28, 2008), Mary Ann Smyth, review of Blood Brothers.

Cable News Network,http://www.cnn.com/ (August 12, 2002), Jack Cafferty, author interview.

Curled Up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (January 28, 2008), Pamela Crossland, review of Blood Brothers.

GI Film Festival Web site,http://www.gifilmfestival.com/ (January 29, 2007), "Time Magazine Sr. Correspondent, Author Michael Weisskopf Joins Panel."

Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (January 28, 2008), author profile.

Leading Authorities,http://www.leadingauthorities.com/ (January 28, 2008), author profile.

MyShelf.com,http://www.myshelf.com/ (October 3, 2006), Suzie Housley, review of Blood Brothers.

New Book Reviews.org,http://newbookreviews.org/ (January 28, 2008), Ray Ward, review of Blood Brothers.

Next Left,http://www.thenextleft.com/ (January 28, 2008), author profile.

Washington Post Online,http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (October 26, 2006), author online interview.