LUBERTOZZI, Alex

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: University of Illinois, M.A..

ADDRESSES:

Home—106 S. Humphrey Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302-2711. Office—Sourcebooks, Inc., 1935 Brookdale Rd., Suite 139, Naperville, IL 60563. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Editor and author. Sourcebooks Inc., Naperville, IL, acquiring editor and book editor; Pure, contributing editor.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Book of the Year Award, Forward Magazine for Pop Culture, 2001, for The Complete War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth from H. G. Wells to Orson Welles.

WRITINGS:

(And editor, with Brian Holmsten) The Complete War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth from H. G. Wells to Orson Welles, Sourcebooks MediaFusion (Naperville, IL), 2001, published as The War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth, Inciting Panic, and Inspiring Terror from H. G. Wells to Orson Welles and Beyond, Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL), 2003.

(With Mark Bernstein) World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts That Riveted a Nation, Sourcebooks MediaFusion (Naperville, IL), 2003.

Contributor to Screen and Small Press.

SIDELIGHTS:

While Alex Lubertozzi worked as an acquiring editor and book editor for Sourcebooks, Inc., a Naperville, Illinois-based publisher of nonfiction and fiction, he also wrote and edited nonfiction titles of his own. His titles include examinations of mid-twentieth century media, and were praised for their scope and illustrations.

The War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth, Inciting Panic and Inspiring Terror from H. G. Wells to Orson Welles and Beyond, written and edited with Brian Holmsten, covers the ways the science fiction story by Wells, "The War of the Worlds," has been adapted over the years. The book also includes biographical information about those involved with the adaptations and a compact disc with several radio broadcasts of the story, including actor/director Orson Welles's infamous 1938 broadcast. Paul Johnson of School Library Journal praised the amount of information in the book and compact disc, while a reviewer in Publishers Weekly commented positively on the choices of photographs used. SciFi's James Lowder also found the concept and writing laudable, but expressed concern about a lack of attention to detail in research and fact checking.

Lubertozzi wrote World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts That Riveted a Nation with Mark Bernstein. This book is a history of Murrow's impact in what the authors believe was the start of foreign broadcast journalism with the beginning of World War II in the late 1930s. The effect of the work of Murrow and his so-called "Murrow's Boys" (a group of radio journalists that worked with him) on the American public is also explored. The book includes a compact disc of related broadcasts, allowing listeners to tie what was actually on the air into the text. The combination was commended by Mark Ellis in Library Journal for giving the reader "a thrilling sense of what it was like for Americans at home following the war in their living rooms." Mary Mueller of School Library Journal pointed out that there is limited coverage of the Pacific front because the book primarily focuses on the European front. Mueller praised what Lubertozzi and Bernstein did cover, including the use of primary sources, but also wrote that the book lacked "general background." Roland Green of Booklist commented positively that World War II on the Air was a "solid contribution to media history."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2003, review of World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts That Riveted a Nation, p. 57.

Columbia Journalism Review, September-October, 2003, James Boylan, review of World War II on the Air, p. 57.

Library Journal, May 1, 2003, Mark Ellis, review of World War II on the Air, p. 133.

Publishers Weekly, April 2, 2001, review of The Complete War of the Worlds: Mars' Invasion of Earth from H. G. Wells to Orson Welles, p. 45; April 21, 2003, review of World War II on the Air, p. 53.

School Library Journal, August 2001, Pam Johnson, review of The Complete War of the Worlds, p. 212; June 2003, Mary Mueller, review of World War II on the Air, p. 155.

ONLINE

About Literature: Classic,http://classiclit.about.com/ (October 31, 2003), Esther Lombardi, review of The Complete War of the Worlds.

Decatur Daily,http://www.dectaurdaily.com/ (September 28, 2003), Richard McCann, "'On the Air' Examines Radio News in WWII."

Illinois Woman's Press Association,http://www.iwpa.org/ (October 25, 2001), "Insiders to Share Trade Secrets at November 17th Book Fair and Publishing Panel."

Locus Online,http://www.locusmag.com/ (July 16, 2001), Claude Lalumière, review of The Complete War of the Worlds.

Sci Fi,http://www.scifi.com/ (October 31, 2003), James Lowder, review of The Complete War of the Worlds. *