Simon & Schuster has been Mr. Woodward’s writer since his first ebook, and their success collectively has been extraordinary. All 20 of his tit
Simon & Schuster has been Mr. Woodward’s writer since his first ebook, and their success collectively has been extraordinary. All 20 of his titles have been Occasions finest sellers, and 14 have reached No. 1. (Simon & Schuster printed a ebook in 1992 by Mr. Woodward and David S. Broder about Dan Quayle, which might deliver his tally to 21, however it was a compendium of labor that had already appeared in The Washington Publish.)
Leonard Downie Jr., the previous government editor of The Washington Publish, has identified Mr. Woodward since they labored collectively on Watergate tales within the 1970s. He stated that Mr. Woodward stood out on the newspaper for his tidy look. Newsrooms may be sloppy locations, however Mr. Woodward was all the time neatly dressed. He was extraordinarily well mannered, virtually obsequious, Mr. Downie stated, and he stored a toothbrush and toothpaste in his desk.
As we speak, Mr. Woodward enjoys the luxurious of time each day newspapering can prohibit, and he stated he all the time tries to schedule at the very least 4 hours for interviews, which frequently happen over a meal or espresso at his home, the place he has lived since 1976. But when a supply is dodging his calls, he’ll nonetheless present up on their doorstep — he likes to joke that 8:17 p.m. is the most effective time to drop by. Whereas he was writing a ebook about George W. Bush, Mr. Downie recalled, there was a common he needed to speak to who had not responded to a number of makes an attempt to contact him, so Mr. Woodward went to his home and knocked on his door after dinnertime. The overall acknowledged him immediately.
“Are you continue to doing this [expletive]?” he requested. “Bob stated, ‘Sure, and there’s one thing I need to discuss to you about.’ The overall was so nonplused he invited him in, and Bob was there for hours.”
One other piece of Mr. Woodward’s course of is that he has all his interviews virtually instantly transcribed. This has led to a trove of knowledge — he has a long time’ price of transcripts which can be typed out by his assistant, along with memos written earlier than tape recorders have been commonplace. He estimates he has 200 cardboard packing containers, stored in temperature managed storage, which can be stuffed with information going again to when he labored for the Montgomery County Sentinel.
His spouse, Elsa Walsh — who can also be a journalist, and his first editor on all his books — stated that Mr. Woodward shares them with journalists he trusts.
“Bob has a extremely very attention-grabbing archive on Biden,” Ms. Walsh stated. She as soon as got here downstairs within the morning in her exercise garments to seek out two folks of their lounge.