"Reporter" by Alvin Benn is the best book that I've read this year

"After a long career of responsible and, at times, courageous reporting, Al Benn brings his probity to his vivid memoirs. He gives journalism a good name."
- Harper Lee

"Reporter: Covering Civil Rights... And Wrongs In Dixie" by Alvin Benn is by far the best book that I’ve read this year.
Benn, a longtime reporter in Alabama, wrote this 388-page book as a memoir for his children and grandchildren, but the "Reporter" reads like a first rank adventure tale.
"Reporter" tells of how Benn’s newspaper career began with a bang. After a six-year enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, Benn landed a job as a reporter in United Press International’s Birmingham field office. Just days later, he was plunged into the thick of the Civil Rights Movement thanks to the discovery of the remains of three civil rights workers – Andrew Goldman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney. From there, Benn went on to Ku Klux Klan rallies, bombings in Birmingham, the "Freedom March" across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and a host of other high profile civil rights incidents.
The book also details Benn’s childhood in a chapter called "Up From The Slums" and covers his exploits in the Marine Corps. Other portions of the book explore Benn’s memories of late Alabama governor George Wallace and his dealings with a wide variety of other characters, including Hank and Rose Sanders, J.L. Chestnut and Joe Smitherman.
Why would anyone from Monroe County want to read the book? Local readers will enjoy "Reporter" because Benn covered our area for a number of years, and the book includes more than a few familiar names and faces. These names include Harper Lee of Monroeville, former Monroe Journal columnist Charles Mabry and defense attorney Paul Harden.
The book also features an entire chapter on Walter "Johnny D" McMillian and the murder of Ronda Morrison. This chapter mentions Ralph Myers and Charles and Bertha Morrison of Monroeville. This chapter also includes photos of McMillian, his attorney Bryan Stevenson and District Attorney Tommy Chapman.
Later, in a chapter called "Killers I Covered," there’s an entire section about the case of Monroeville’s Stanley Kidd, who was convicted of killing his 14-month-old twin daughters, Kierra Letitia and Cierra Tyeshia. This section mentions Judge Sam Welch and Monroeville attorney Dawn Hare. Photos in this section include a photo of Kidd and Monroeville attorneys Mickey Womble and Bob McMillan.
Will this book be read 100 years from now? If not, it should be. In one way the book is the story of Alvin Benn’s career as a journalist in Alabama. In another way, it’s an important historical document, a window into what it was like to live in places like Selma, Montgomery and Monroeville in the late 20th century.
In the end, I really enjoyed the book. As a reporter, I could really relate to many of Benn’s experiences and to some of the difficulties he faced while working as a reporter in our neck of the woods. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the book a solid 9.0.