Neal Shine book's is a terrific read, and legendary Gene Roberts to give this year's Shine Ethics Lecture

Read any good books lately? I’ve got one for you.

The book is “Life with Mae” by the late Neal Shine, retired publisher of the Detroit Free Press and longtime friend of the J-School and me. I adored him.

The book is about Neal and his brothers growing up in Detroit with his irrepressible mother, an Irish immigrant, named Mae, or to those of us who knew her, Ma Shine. The book is pure Shine, funny, clever and warm. For those who knew Neal, I recommend it. For those who never had the chance, buy it as a gift for yourself.

Then on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, when Michigan’s winds are howling, put on a pair of sweats, curl up in a chair with a cup of hot cocoa and treat yourself to the wit and wisdom of Neal Shine.

This is also a perfect segue into next week’s Neal Shine Ethics Lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning author and editor Gene Roberts. He is a legendary newsman, one of the most storied and influential of the 20th Century. And he’s coming to campus to speak. Roberts’s talk on “The Ethical Dilemma of the Money Changers in the Temple and the News,” is set for 4 p.m., Wed., Nov. 14, Big Ten C in the Kellogg Center. Ask your journalism teacher if you can cover it for extra credit.

Roberts is best known for his leadership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, where, during his era as executive editor from 1973-1991, the paper won 17 Pulitzer Prizes.

In April 2007, Roberts, a professor of journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, won another Pulitzer, this time for his history book, “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation,” co-authored with Atlanta Journal Constitution Managing Editor Hank Klibanoff.

Prior to his 18 years at the helm of the Inquirer, he covered the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War for the New York Times. He joined the Times staff after working as a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press where he worked with the late Neal Shine.

Roberts left newspapers in 1991 to teach at the University of Maryland but returned to the New York Times as managing editor from 1994-1997. He returned to the University in 1998 and teaches journalism courses on writing the complex story, the press and the civil rights movement, and newsroom management.

The lecture is free with a reception (and food) for the audience. Hope to see you there!