Title: Blind Journey: A Journalist’s Memoirs
Author: Jack Hawn
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing
ISBN: 9781609760113
Pages: 358
Genre: Autobiography
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
Fresh and revelatory, Blind Journey: A Journalist’s Memoirs is penned by Jack Hawn. This autobiography chronicles the writer’s journalistic career intertwined with memories of his marriage to his wife, Charlene, along with parenting their four children and becoming unflinchingly honest about the wonderful memories and tough times he encountered during his life. He goes further, offering readers a glimpse of famous and infamous personalities through insightful anecdotes and the lives he touched during his long-spanning career.
Jack Hawn was born in 1930 in Nebraska. He did not study journalism at school but found himself navigating towards this field by chance. However, he experienced major obstacles along the way before he achieved any measurable degree of success in what would become the hallmark of his 43-year career. Hawn spent four years working at the army’s public information offices, later finding work as a copy boy at a Hollywood newspaper. He continued moving up the ladder, finally landing a lucrative job with LA Times as a sports and entertainment reporter.
In this book, journalistic tenacity shines as the author offers fresh details of his achievements including covering American professional boxer Muhammed Ali’s title fights at the 1984 Olympics, American singer Frank Sinatra, and many other celebrities and eventually hanging his boots in 1991. The author fleshes out details, adding some moving anecdotes, and offering a sneak peek of personalities whose lives he touched professionally, all told in elegant prose, candor, and fitting diction.
This autobiography comes together so well observing admirable measures of a distinguished career. Good books packed with finesse and honesty are few and sporadic and Blind Journey: A Journalist’s Memoirs is a much-appreciated addition to its genre as it unfurls a world that is less explored.
As the title suggests, Blind Journey: A Journalist’s Memoirs is a warm accolade for a resilient pursuit with uncertain but worthy results. Vintage photographs accentuate the information here adding authenticity to his story. Jack Hawn is undoubtedly a brilliant storyteller and cleverly combines humor, poignancy, and above all, nuance. Journalism enthusiasts will find this candid memoir a keeper.
