Izzy: A Biography of I.F. Stone
by Robert C. Cottrell

Excerpts From Some Reviews of Cottrell’s Biography “Izzy”

Allan Jalon, of the LA Times, called Cottrell’s book "a
textured portrayal of Stone's life as a prism thorugh which to examines decades of changes in the American left."

Jonathan Kirsch of The Los Angeles Times said: "'Izzy,' is the first definitive biography of a near‑mythic character in American journalism"; "Cottrell [is] an appreciative but also an able and evenhanded biographer"; "But, in a real sense, 'Izzy' is less a biography of the man than an intellectual and political chronicle of progressive politics and activist journalism in 20th‑Century America.  Indeed, the figure of I.F. Stone is rather like the needle on a political seismography that charts every tremor and temblor from the First World War through the collapse of Communism."; "Stone comes across in Cottrell's book as a celebrity journalist who never sold out, a 'charter' who never became a caricature of himself and an ideological stalwart whose politics may have changed but whose commitment to journalism in the service of social justice never wavered."

Peter Browne, Sydney Morning Herald, said: "It is a readable and convincing account of the seemingly tireless journalist who, having 'retired' from the Weekly, went on to write long essays for the New York Review and the controversial bestseller The Trial of Socrates".

James Combs, Journal of American Culture, said: "Cottrell's superb biography should remind all of those who fancy themselves journalists just what that heroic social role should mean.  For I.F. Stone, it was nothing less than a life‑long commitment to the investigation and criticism of power, based on the Stonean assumption that all governments are run by liars."; "One might hope that journalism schools around the land might require students to read Cottrell's biography to remind everyone in 'the media' that the journalistic profession has much to profess if its practitioners are inspired by the example of I.F. Stone and the singular principle we associate with him: integrity."

Jean C. Chance, Journalism History, said: "The scope of Izzy is enormous....Readers should focus on this work for its unabashed support of investigative journalism.  It is a tribute to the role of good journalism in the strongest tradition of the responsibility of the Fourth Estate.  Stone, Cottrell argues, lives this role, he did not just practice his duties as a journalist....We are indebted to Cottrell for this contribution to journalism literature."; "Look long and hard at what Cottrell has contributed to journalism literature with this book."

His bibliography is worthy of study and makes a great contribution to those wishing to contemplate the journalism of a sixty‑year period. This is a significant study."

Carl Sessions Stepp, American Journalism Review, said: "In Stone's life and work, Cottrell finds an extraordinary opportunity to examine 'the intersection between commitment, professionalism, and ideology.'"; "This is a valuable book about a complex, pugnacious individualist whose epitaph lives in the words of Village Voice writer Jack Newfield: 'He taught me to read the small print.'"

R. Halverson, Choice, said: "This well‑balanced biography of Isidor Feinstein (I.F.) Stone....Cottrell... also provides superb documentation, exhaustive notes, and a helpful index.  Writing is clear but not elegant."