Dickerson, John 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968; son of Wyatt and Nancy (a television journalist) Dickerson. Education: University of Virginia, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, journalist. Time magazine, former political reporter and White House correspondent; Slate magazine, chief political correspondent. Regularly appears on television and radio, including the Today Show, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Nightly News, Good Morning America, This Week, and Public Broadcasting System (PBS) News Hour.

WRITINGS:

On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to Best Political Stories of 2003. Contributor of articles to periodicals, including the New York Times and Washington Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

Longtime political reporter John Dickerson turned his focus from presidents to his own mother in his debut nonfiction book, On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star. Nancy Dickerson, in her long career on television, covered four different presidents, beginning with John F. Kennedy. Dickerson writes objectively about his famous mother, attempting to explain the mixture of hard work and charisma that allowed her to break into what had been previously an all-male preserve. Though focusing on the career of a pioneering female journalist, Dickerson also provides autobiographical insights, creating a portrait of a woman who parented on her own terms.

Elsa Walsh dubbed this parenting style "drive-by parenting" in her Washington Post review of the book, further commenting, "Dickerson's depiction of the searing psychological neglect a child can feel when a parent appears to love a job more makes this book riveting in a horror movie kind of way." A critic for Kirkus Reviews felt that On Her Trail was a "fascinating … portrait of a cultural icon who happened to also be a mom." Likewise, Jan Gardner, writing for the Boston Globe Online, found Dickerson's book "an unflinching portrait of all that one woman did for the love of her career."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Dickerson, John, On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2006, review of On Her Trail, p. 818.

Time, January 29, 2001, James Kelly, "Hooked on Politics," p. 8.

Washington Post, October 18, 2006, Elsa Walsh, "My Mother the Careerist," review of On Her Trail, p. C3.

ONLINE

Boston Globe Online,http://www.boston.com/ (November 27, 2006), Jan Gardner, review of On Her Trail.

John Dickerson Home Page,http://www.johndickerson.com (March 5, 2007).