'Mulligan's Christmas Stew' served for the holidays

Originally posted on AP.org

Hugh Mulligan was the kind of guy you hope sits next to you on a long train ride – funny, smart, kind and with more stories than a lifetime should include. A collection of 44 holiday columns by the former special correspondent of The Associated Press has just been published under the title "Mulligan’s Christmas Stew."

It's available as an oversize paperback from Rosetta Books and as a Kindle e-book.  

"Mulligan’s Christmas Stew" includes the stories behind "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night," and explores the mystery of who Santa Claus is, noting that thousands of words have been written about him, "but he has never submitted to an interview." One column considers what it would be like if Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Mr. Pickwick and other famous characters from holiday fiction all came to Christmas dinner. 

Mulligan, a native New Yorker whose work appeared in newspapers across the country, recounted his adventures in nearly 150 countries. He covered popes, presidents and princesses. He retired in 2000 and died in 2008 at age 83. 

In The Wall Street Journal this week, columnist Ralph Gardner Jr. called Mulligan "a witty and erudite storyteller."

For those familiar with Mulligan’s work, the book will be a keepsake that gathers his holiday stories in one place. For younger readers, it will serve as an introduction to the popular storyteller. 

In a 1958 piece titled "Brainy Babes in Toyland," Mulligan wrote:

Like everyone else, I'd like to be a child again at Christmas, but frankly I just don't have the IQ for it anymore.

Toddlers today, as any department store toy catalogue plainly shows, are so far ahead of the rest of us intellectu­ally that parents need a cram course at the Institute for Advanced Study to set the toys out under the tree.

It was bad enough in the old days trying to assemble junior's scooter and sister's doll carriage on the night be­fore Christmas, when all that was needed was the brains of an Edison or Marconi. But how are you going to con­tend with the 266-piece, four-foot-long atomic cannon that actually fires and the alpha 1 ballistic missile with its rocket motor, remote control adjustable launcher and its nontoxic, nonflammable oxidizer and fuel load?

Actor and storyteller Malachy McCourt writes in a foreword:

This is a serene book that nudges its way into your heart. And speaking for myself, I don't believe I'll have a negative thought about Christmas again as these stories, an amazing gift all their own, would even put a smile on Ebenezer Scrooge's face!

"Mulligan's Christmas Stew" includes Christmas trivia and quizzes, and concludes with an oral history about the journalist’s life and career that he did for AP Corporate Archives in 2005. It is the latest in AP’s burgeoning book publishing program. 

About AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Web: www.ap.org.

Contact
Paul Colford
Vice President and Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212.621.1895
pcolford@ap.org

Lauren Easton
Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212.621.7005
leaston@ap.org

AP Stylebook adds e-book edition to digital product suite

Originally posted on AP.org

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law is available for the first time as an interactive e-book, making the nation’s leading resource for newsroom style easier to use.

AP is releasing the 2015 AP Stylebook e-book with Basic Books, a division of The Perseus Books Group, which also publishes the perfect-bound print AP Stylebook sold in retail outlets.

Stylebook fans have asked for an e-book version for years, tweeting AP Stylebook On Twitter to suggest adding an e-book to Stylebook’s digital product suite. While AP has offered a digital edition in PDF form on Google Play, Chegg eTextbooks and Follett’s BryteWave, this is the first time the AP Stylebook is available as an interactive e-book on platforms including Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook and Kobo.

At more than 5,000 entries, the 2015 AP Stylebook is the biggest edition in its more than six decades of publication. The e-book makes it faster and easier to find a relevant style rule. Now journalists, students, public relations professionals and other writers and editors will have style guidance at the ready at all times.

The 2015 AP Stylebook includes about 300 new or revised entries. The Sports chapter is updated with terms on baseball, basketball, football, horse racing, soccer and winter sports. An 85-page dynamic index helps users quickly find words and definitions, supplementing the e-book’s search with concepts and themes users might look for.

The AP Stylebook, edited by David Minthorn, Sally Jacobsen and Paula Froke, is widely used as a writing and editing reference in newsrooms, classrooms and corporate offices worldwide.
Updated regularly since its initial publication in 1953, the AP Stylebook is a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals. It provides fundamental guidelines for spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic style. It is the definitive resource for journalists.

The AP Stylebook is available in print and multiple digital formats.

On apstylebook.com
On Twitter
On Facebook

About AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Web: www.ap.org.

Contact
Paul Colford
Vice President and Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org

‘The Boston Marathon Bombing’ to feature AP reporters’ stories behind the story

Originally posted on AP.org

The Associated Press announces the publication this week of “The Boston Marathon Bombing: The Long Run From Terror to Revival.”

The new AP Edition, published in partnership with Mango Media, goes beyond the blasts that killed three people and injured more than 260, the manhunt that shut down Boston and the closely watched trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The book offers the stories behind the story, as related by the AP reporters and photographers who have provided comprehensive coverage.

When two pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013, AP photographer Charlie Krupa broke out of a locked-down press room in order to cover the chaos on Boylston Street:

"EMTs. Firefighters. Everybody was triaging all these people in a cluster," he said. Medical attendants and volunteers worked frantically, using their own belts and shoelaces as tourniquets. "They were attending to people, getting them on stretchers and getting them off Boylston Street. It was like watching ants. Everyone knew what job they had to do." Something else registered through his lens: Although the panicked were peeling away in every direction, a quarter of the crowd was running toward the blast sites to help.

AP Legal Affairs Writer Denise Lavoie, who covered Tsarnaev’s trial and sentencing, was struck by the intensity of the survivors’ testimony in court:

“I knew these people had suffered terribly, but I didn’t know how bad it was until I heard them describe in their own words what they went through,” Lavoie said. “I was stunned by their composure on the witness stand. I don’t know if I could have kept it together as well as they did.”

Reporter Bridget Murphy and Krupa spent many hours at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital watching amputees get ready for their first prosthetic limbs:

“I felt like they were giving us a gift by letting us be there while they were vulnerable," Murphy said. "A lot of them were very buoyant at the beginning. But as time went on and they were confronted with the reality of what their lives would be like from here on out, a lot of them got frustrated."

“The Boston Marathon Bombing” will be available as an e-book and in a paperback edition.

The book draws on AP’s extensive reporting and rich photo archive, capturing not only the horror and confusion, but also the selfless actions of marathoners, spectators and first responders who rushed to assist the victims.

The volume is a testament to the strength of the people of Boston and how they overcame tragedy with an enduring belief in the American spirit.

About AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Web: www.ap.org.

Contact
Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org 

Peter Arnett Recounts Fall of Saigon In 40th Anniversary Memoir

Originally posted on AP.org

The Associated Press with RosettaBooks is publishing “Saigon Has Fallen,”an intimate remembrance on the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett.

The book tells the story of Arnett’s role covering the Vietnam War for AP from 1962 to April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese forces entered and took control of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. As Saigon fell, Arnett was one of three AP reporters remaining in the bureau.
 

He recounts historic points of the protracted conflict, including Marine landings, mountaintop battles, and the evacuation of civilians and U.S. personnel in the chaotic final hours.

Arnett won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1966 for his Vietnam coverage. He later joined CNN and became well-known to TV audiences during the first Gulf War when he broadcast live from Baghdad during the U.S. bombing raids.

In “Saigon Has Fallen,” Arnett writes about his risks and triumphs, recalling his fears and fights in reporting from Vietnam.

“Vietnam was America’s last uncensored war, and we journalists were pushed between a rock and a hard place, browbeaten by government officials to present their optimistic version of the war while our news industry executives back home demanded we report the unvarnished truth,” Arnett said. “We chose the truth, sharing with our audiences the bitter realities of an unwinnable war that, for the Americans and South Vietnamese who fought it, came to an unbearable, heart-rending end forty years ago.”

“Saigon Has Fallen” features 21 dramatic photographs from the AP archives as well as Arnett’s personal collection and is available exclusively for Kindle at Amazon.com. A paperback edition can be found in the coming days leading up to the April 30 anniversary wherever books are sold. 

Arnett has recounted this period of his career before, but in “Saigon Has Fallen” he approaches those years with a fresh perspective for the 40th anniversary. The memoir also includes chapters about his fascinating return visits to Vietnam decades afterward.

"Peter Arnett brings new perspective to a tumultuous moment of the Vietnam War,” said Sarah Nordgren, director of content development for AP. “His story adds sharp focus to a moment in history that resonates widely, even today.”

This is the first of several AP book projects that will be published in collaboration with RosettaBooks, including “World War II: Stories and Photographs by Correspondents of The Associated Press” in recognition of the 70th anniversary of VE-Day, in May.

“We are thrilled to work with The Associated Press on a line of books that cover pivotal moments in history as told by AP’s award-winning journalists,” said Roger Cooper, associate publisher at large, RosettaBooks.

About RosettaBooks 
RosettaBooks is the leading independent digital publisher.  Its prominent author collections include 52 works of Winston Churchill, 35 titles by renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, 20 works by Kurt Vonnegut, 12 titles from international bestselling business author Stephen R. Covey and 18 works by Robert Graves, celebrated 20th century English poet, critic, and author of I, Claudius and Claudius, the God.  RosettaBooks also publishes eBook lines in collaboration with AARP, Harvard Health Publications and Mayo Clinic.  Publisher of ten Kindle Singles, including Ray Bradbury’s The Playground, RosettaBooks has launched nine of them to bestseller status. RosettaBooks is an Inc. 500 company, on the exclusive list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. For more information, please visit RosettaBooks.com.

About AP 
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Web: www.ap.org.

Contact 
Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org

Erin Madigan White
Senior Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press 
212-621-7005
emadigan@ap.org 

AP Launches 'AP Editions' Paperback and eBook Series

Originally posted on AP.org

The Associated Press is tapping its global news coverage and vast archives to launch a series of paperback and e-books called AP Editions.

In collaboration with Miami-based Mango Media, AP is releasing the first 15 of what will be dozens of titles planned this year, drawing from recent reporting in text and photos, in addition to AP’s rich archive dating to 1846.

The initial titles, which can be located at www.ap.org/books, are developed from key moments in history, major current events, profiles and oddities. AP’s first books recount the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ebola’s impact on Africa and beyond and the magic of the cosmos made real by the Hubble Telescope.

“AP reporters and photographers have spent nearly 170 years in all quarters of the globe, telling the most important stories of their time,” said Sarah Nordgren, director of content development at AP. “By teaming up with Mango, AP has the opportunity to bring those stories once again to light, with the added perspective of history.”

“We are very pleased to be working with AP’s award-winning journalists to produce this groundbreaking book series,” said Christopher McKenney, president of Mango Media. “AP Editions titles are well-curated, high-quality, multiformat books designed to reach new generations of readers.”

Paperback editions are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other outlets. E-book editions will also be available at those retailers, as well as iTunes.

Mango Media works with Ingram Publisher Services, an Ingram Content Group company, to distribute digital and print versions of AP Editions. The titles will be updated regularly.

Among the first titles: 

• Pope Francis: Transforming the Catholic Church
  Paperback: $17.95 / e-Book: $9.99
• The Hubble Space Telescope: A Universe of New Discovery
  Paperback: $17.95 / e-Book: $9.99
• Ebola: From Outbreak to Crisis to Containment
  Paperback: $14.95 / e-Book: $7.99

About Mango Media
Mango Media publishes high-quality books and e-Books on the most important issues and trends affecting our world. See more at www.mangomedia.us.

About AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Web: www.ap.org.

Contact
Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org

Erin Madigan White
Senior Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
emadigan@ap.org