About this item
This fascinating biography reveals the untold story of the legendary New Yorker profile writer - author of Joe Gould's Secret and Up in the Old Hotel - and unravels the mystery behind one of literary history's greatest disappearing acts. Born and raised in North Carolina, Joseph Mitchell was Southern to the core. But from the 1930s to the 1960s, he was the voice of New York City. Readers of The New Yorker cherished his intimate sketches of the people who made the city tick - from Mohawk steelworkers to Staten Island oystermen, from homeless intellectual Joe Gould to Old John McSorley, founder of the city's most famous saloon. Mitchell's literary sensibility combined with a journalistic eye for detail produced a writing style that would inspire New Journalism luminaries such as Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, and Joan Didion.
About the Author
An author, journalist and educator, Thomas Kunkel currently serves as the seventh president of St. Norbert College - the only college in the world to be founded by the Norbertine order of priests.
Before coming to St. Norbert, Kunkel served for eight years as dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where he also served as president of the American Journalism Review and as editor and director of the Project on the State of the American Newspaper.
Kunkel spent much of his early career in newspaper management, working for such organizations as the San Jose Mercury News, the Miami Herald, the New York Times and the Cincinnati Post.
He is the author or editor of six books, most recently "Man in Profile: Joseph Mitchell of The New Yorker," published in April 2015 by Random House. His other works include "Genius in Disguise" (1995) , the critically acclaimed biography of The New Yorker's founding editor, Harold Ross; "Enormous Prayers: A Journey into the Priesthood" (1998) , an ethnographic portrait of 28 Catholic priests; and "Letters from the Editor" (2000) , a compilation and analysis of Ross' letters.
His many editing credits include "Breach of Trust: A Crisis of Coverage in the Age of Corporate Newspapering" (editor, with Gene Roberts, University of Arkansas Press; 2002) and "Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering" (editor, with Gene Roberts and Charles Layton, University of Arkansas Press; 2001) .
Kunkel was born and raised in Evansville, Ind. He earned his B.A. in political science at the University of Evansville in 1977 and his master's degree in humanities from UE in 1979. He and his wife, Debra, have four grown daughters.
