A rags-to-riches story of the climb from urban poverty to the New York Times, this insider's view of struggle and change at the nation's premier newspaper reconstructs the most controversial period in the paper's history and records how journalists reported and edited the biggest events of the past two decades. A candid discussion on race, this memoir is the inspirational story of a man who covered presidents, documented extraordinary social and cultural challenges, led his team to an unprecedented number of Pulitzers, stumbled disastrously during an unjust scandal, and in the end discovered the true value of his life.