Without Compromise

Wayne Barrett was a reporter for the Village Voice for close to 40 years, and was the first to report on the inside deals, backroom favors, and outright scams that fueled the career of Donald J. Trump. Barrett had the goods on Trump long before Trump had an inkling to be president-back when he was just a New York character, and a New York crook.

This book is the first edited, annotated volume of Barrett's investigative pieces, revealing the shady dealings of New York power players from Donald Trump to Ed Koch to Rudy Giuliani. The book also provides a master class in investigative journalism. Barrett's craft and rigor were unmatched, and he taught generations of journalists how to connect the dots and find the patterns in the facts. In an age when journalism is under threat, Barrett's work reminds us of the possibility of journalism in the public interest, and the importance of journalists as detectives for the people, always holding the powerful to account.

“"As Donald Trump rose to power no journalist busted him earlier or better than the late investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, whose indispensable work is gathered in Without Compromise . Barrett's pieces provide an x-ray into Trump's soul, and into the civic corruption that fueled his rise. These stories are essential reading, alive with fresh insights and information illuminating today's politics, and remind us that rigorous journalism is still democracy's best defense."-- Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money”

"An instantly classic collection by one of the greatest reporters New York ever produced, and one of the greatest of his era. Few could combine righteous fury with dogged attention to detail like Barrett. This collection is a treasure and (somewhat maddeningly) a reminder that the fools, crooks, and wannabe strongmen that have our republic dangling over a precipice have been this way for a long, long time."--Chris Hayes, author of A Colony in a Nation
"As Donald Trump rose to power no journalist busted him earlier or better than the late investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, whose indispensable work is gathered in Without Compromise. Barrett's pieces provide an x-ray into Trump's soul, and into the civic corruption that fueled his rise. These stories are essential reading, alive with fresh insights and information illuminating today's politics, and remind us that rigorous journalism is still democracy's best defense."--Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money
"These pages bring Wayne Barrett back to life in all his investigative glory, his moral clarity, his righteous rage. Barrett was prescient, not just about Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, but also about how, time and time again, individuals and institutions would fail to rein in the greed of those who feed off the public trough and to address the racism that undergirds both public policy and private behavior. Wayne Barrett's life and work continue to inspire, especially at a time when truth and facts are under siege. He had a mantra: 'The job of our profession is discovery, not dissertation.' Journalists are paid to tell the truth, he said, and that he did, no matter who, no matter what."--Sheila Coronel, dean of academic affairs and director, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism School

Wayne Barrett (1945-2017) was a celebrated investigative journalist. He spent much of his 40-year reporting career at the Village Voice, where he became, in the words of the Washington Post, "dreaded if not loathed" by public officials for his relentless exposure of such major political figures as Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump. After his departure from the Village Voice, he became a fellow at Type Media Center, then known as The Nation Institute. He is the author of four books, including Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth (1992) and Rudy: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani (2000).

Eileen Markey is an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at CUNY's Lehman College, as well as an investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, National Catholic Reporter, America, Commonweal, and Killing the Buddha. She has worked as a producer for WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show and is a contributing editor for Housing and Homelessness at City Limits. Markey is a graduate of Fordham University's urban studies program and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in the Bronx.

Wayne Barrett was a reporter for the Village Voice for close to 40 years, and was the first to report on the inside deals, backroom favors, and outright scams that fueled the career of Donald J. Trump. Barrett had the goods on Trump long before Trump had an inkling to be president-back when he was just a New York character, and a New York crook.This book is the first edited, annotated volume of Barrett's investigative pieces, revealing the shady dealings of New York power players from Donald Trump to Ed Koch to Rudy Giuliani. The book also provides a master class in investigative journalism. Barrett's craft and rigor were unmatched, and he taught generations of journalists how to connect the dots and find the patterns in the facts. In an age when journalism is under threat, Barrett's work reminds us of the possibility of journalism in the public interest, and the importance of journalists as detectives for the people, always holding the powerful to account.

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