Praise for Truth in Our Times

A passionate, important defense of the First Amendment and its absolute necessity in a democracy.

Arguably the best 25 behind-the-scenes stories from the New York Times newsroom since 9/11. Inarguably better than law school. To read about David McCraw’s legal work is largely to envy his career.

As every editor and reporter at the New York Times knows, David McCraw is far more than a lawyer. He’s an advocate, a sage, and a level-headed, witty partner who ensures that principled, hard-won journalism sees the light of day and is protected and defended after it’s published. As everyone else will learn from his revealing, provocative and instructive book, David is also one of the world’s foremost proponents of the First Amendment and free expression – and our community is lucky to have him.

Everyone in the business knows that David McCraw is the best friend a reporter can have. Brilliant, steadfast and brave, he has made some of the best journalism done in my lifetime better, and, most important, possible. The audience, the authors and the owners, he has guided owe him.

David McCraw’s wise, witty and consequential tale brings us into the often-harrowing challenges that beset the Times in the era of Wikileaks, the #MeToo movement, and “fake news.” McCraw’s unabashed love affair with the First Amendment shines a convincing light on the vital tie between our democracy and a free press – and on the ever-important role of its defenders.

In Truth in Our Times, David McCraw, a wry Midwesterner with a gift for storytelling who has been a lawyer for The New York Times for the last 16 years, deftly spells out out the consequences for democracy when the very idea of journalism is under attack. He gives us a compulsively-readable account of the pressures under which The Times operates–including security threats to reporters, Twitter-storms from President Trump, public disbelief in the role of journalism, growing secrecy and paranoia in government, and over-reaction from Times readers to nearly everything–from his front-row perspective as a trusted counselor to the paper’s reporters and executives. Without ever making himself a hero, his account forces us to confront the need for re-assertion of the central American value of a free press at a time of growing darkness. Required reading for every American who cares about the future of our country.

There are few more comforting and joyful words in journalism than ‘Don’t worry, David McCraw is here.’ As many New York Times reporters know – and as anyone who buys this book will learn – David McCraw is a national treasure, the reason why so many great articles have appeared, and a legal and moral force for justice and truth.