Mary Llewellyn McNeil, author of CENTURY'S WITNESS - a Boswell event

Boswell Book Company presents an evening with Mary Llewellyn McNeil, author of Century's Witness: The Extraordinary Life of Journalist Wallace Carroll.

Today when local newspapers are going out of business, corporate profits drive press coverage, and unbiased reporting is seen as almost nonexistent, Wallace Carroll's life is a lesson in excellence. A "journalist's journalist" with unmatched integrity, Carroll covered the most significant events of his time, from the London Blitz to the United States' withdrawal from the Vietnam War. His story is even more relevant today given the war in Ukraine and Russia's assault on the truth.

Carroll covered the League of Nations in the 1930s, warning the American public of the dangers of fascism, headed United Press's office in London at the outbreak of the war and was among the first journalists to reach the Russian front following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. He later joined the US Office of War Information, tasked with "winning the hearts and minds" of those under the Nazi boot. As such, he was well-placed to understand the power of words, and their heightened importance in a time of war. Carroll's life and career are essential reading for all those who believe a trusted and reasoned press is essential to our democracy.

From George F. Will, columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner: "This well-told story of a gentleman journalist is a trip back in time to when that phrase did not strike most Americans as an oxymoron, and when vibrant local newspapers were both causes and effects of national vigor."

Mary Llewellyn McNeil is a former editor and writer for Congressional Quarterly, former editor at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences, and was a journalist at the Winston-Salem Journal. She is coeditor of Demanding Good Governance: Lessons from Social Accountability Initiatives in Africa. McNeil was a student of Wallace Carroll's and a graduate of Wake Forest University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Click here to order your copy of Century's Witness from Boswell. Signed copies and personalization available on pre-orders. Please note that signed copies will not be shipped until after the event.