Pomerantz, Gary M.

views updated

Pomerantz, Gary M.

PERSONAL: Born in North Tarrytown, NY; married Carrie Schwab; children: three. Education: University of California—Berkeley, B.A., 1982.

ADDRESSES: Home—CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Crown Books, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist. Washington Post, Washington, DC, sportswriter; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, columnist and special writer. Emory University, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism, 1999–2001. Guest on television and radio programs, including CBS Early Show, Talk Back Live, and Weekend Edition.

AWARDS, HONORS: Journalism fellow, University of Michigan, 1987–88; Notable Book citation, New York Times, 1996, for Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn; Ernie Pyle Award for human-interest writing, 1999; award for feature writing, Society of Professional Journalists, for seven-part series in Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn, Scribner (New York, NY), 1996.

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy and Triumph of ASA Flight 529, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2001.

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist Gary M. Pomerantz has covered a wide array of subjects during the course of his career. His first book, Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn, provides a history of Atlanta, Georgia, within the framework of a multi-generational biography. Race relations play an integral part in this work, as well as in Pomerantz's third book, Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era.

In Wilt, 1962, Pomerantz, a former sports reporter for the Washington Post, examines life in mid-twentieth-century America through the story of legendary basketball star Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain's playing skills were phenomenal, but he also stood for many of the cultural and social changes going on in the United States at the time he was at the top of his game. Wilt, 1962 focuses mainly on the night Chamberlain indisputably proved his superiority by scoring one hundred points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks. The book tells the story of that evening in dramatic fashion, but it also provides reflections on American life. The book is "a meticulous and engaging narrative," remarked Jason Adams in Entertainment Weekly. A Kirkus Reviews writer called it "a sports book worth talking about, and a moving portrait of a great athlete and his era."

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy and Triumph of ASA Flight 529 chronicles the lives of twenty-nine people who took the ill-fated commuter flight that crashed near Burwell, Georgia, in 1995. Miraculously, most of the passengers survived the initial crash with minor injuries, but a fast-moving fire provided a new threat. The actions of the mechanics, the passengers, and the crew are all depicted in thoughtful, sympathetic prose, from the pre-flight inspection of the plane to the heroic efforts to save trapped passengers from the fire. The book relates the noble actions of many involved in the crash, and their "willingness … to help one another despite the risks make for a powerful story," stated Library Journal reviewer Deirdre Bray Root. Booklist reviewer Gavin Quinn advised that the book's graphic description of the accident makes for some "gruesome" passages, but praised the author for using the crash as "the stage for a much larger story of courage and serenity in a time of crisis." Forbes reviewer Susan Adams remarked that Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds is "all told, a great read. But you might want to tackle it while on terra firma."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2001, Gavin Quinn, review of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy and Triumph of ASA Flight 529, p. 2061.

Entertainment Weekly, April 29, 2005, Jason Adams, review of Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era, p. 153.

Forbes, October 1, 2001, Susan Adams, review of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, p. 141.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2005, review of Wilt, 1962, p. 340.

Library Journal, September 1, 2001, Deirdre Bray Root, review of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, p. 206.

Publishers Weekly, July 23, 2001, review of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, p. 59; August 12, 2002, John Mutter, "An Unusual Author Tour Book Stop," p. 149.