Thursday, May 20, 2010

California Watch

I should have done this a while back, but I'm including a link to the California Watch website on your starboard as well as here. Former Chronicle writer (and former Ramparts contributor!) Louis Freedberg has been serving as founding director, but I just received an email from him announcing that he will now become a senior reporter.

California Watch is a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting, which was co-founded in the 1970s by David Weir, Dan Noyes, and Lowell Bergman--all of whom I've met, one way or another, through the Ramparts project.

Dan is the only one I haven't met personally, but we exchanged email about Angus Mackenzie's book, Secrets: The CIA's War at Home, which appeared in 1998. In addition to writing a superb book, which Dan helped see the light of day, Mackenzie worked for the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Although I mention Mackenzie and cite Secrets in the Ramparts book, Dan thought I could have been more generous with my credit. A trade book needs to keep the story hurtling forward, and there's little opportunity to praise one's sources, no matter how valuable, along the way. But let the record show that I learned a lot from the book and recommend it highly to everyone.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Ramparts Interview on KALW

KALW will repeat the Ramparts interview on "Your Call" tomorrow at 10 a.m. Sweet.

It was a pleasure talking to Rose Aguilar for almost an hour about the book. Rose published her book with PoliPointPress, so I've come to know her a little bit--and like her a lot.