A Reporter Reflects

A Reporter Reflects began as essays Brian Duffy posted on his blog about living in a nursing home during a pandemic. Significantly expanded and revised, the memoir contrasts Brian's present situation with his life before he suffered a stroke in 2014. Brian was a reporter for The Miami Herald, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, editor of U.S. News & World Report and managing editor for news at National Public Radio. In Washington he covered the FBI and the CIA. He shared newspaper bylines with Bob Woodward and Carl Hiaasen, and knew and/or interviewed many famous people, from Muhammad Ali to James Comey to Madeleine Albright. As a journalist he traveled to Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Mozambique and elsewhere.

The book is divided between alternating sections of present tense nursing home stories and past tense stories of Brian's life, with the sections arranged more or less chronologically. The contrast between the two sections is stark, which gives the book a powerful human-interest angle. After rising to the top of his profession, Brian now can't walk unaided and his fine motor skills are gone, so he can't type or write and needs to dictate his work into his phone.

In addition to being chock-full of fascinating stories, A Reporter Reflects is an inspiring testament to the human spirit and the refusal to give up in the face of adversity.