University of Arkansas Press Publishes Latest From Roy Reed

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Press has published Beware of Limbo Dancers: A Correspondent’s Adventures with the New York Times, by Roy Reed ($34.95 cloth). This witty, wide-ranging memoir from Roy Reed — a native Arkansan who became a reporter for the New York Times — begins with tales of the writer’s formative years growing up in Arkansas and the start of his career at the Arkansas Gazette. Reed joined the New York Times in 1965 and was quickly thrust into the chaos of civil rights-era Alabama, witnessing first hand the Selma protest movement and the historical interracial march to Montgomery. His story moves from days of racial violence to the political combat of Washington, D.C. Reed covered the Johnson White House and the early days of the Nixon administration as each wrestled with the competing demands of black voters and southern resistance to civil rights. The memoir concludes with engaging postings from New Orleans and London as well as other reports from a correspondent always on the lookout for new people, old ways, good company, and fresh outrages.

Kirkus Reviews called Beware of Limbo Dancers “a compelling tour of a journalist’s life from an intelligent, charming guide.” Charles Portis, author of True Grit, called the book “a fine piece of writing.” Hodding Carter III said that Reed had written “a dream of a memoir.”

Roy Reed was a reporter from 1956 to 1978, after which he taught journalism at the University of Arkansas for 16 years. He is the author of two books, Looking for Hogeye and Faubus: The Life and Times of an American Prodigal, and he is the editor of Looking Back at the Arkansas Gazette: An Oral History. He will be reading and signing the book at the Legacies & Lunch series at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3; at the University of Arkansas Celebration of Faculty Authors and their Books at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, in Giffels Auditorium; at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Global Campus, Fayetteville at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11; and at the Fayetteville Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15. Each of these events is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1980, the University of Arkansas Press is the book publishing division of the University of Arkansas. It publishes approximately 20 titles per year. The University of Arkansas Press is charged by the trustees of the university with the publication of books in service to the academic community and for the enrichment of the broader culture.