Scott Martelle
journalist/author


Some of my
journalism

REVIEW:
Of Wael Ghonim's Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power: A Memoir
ARTICLE:
On Thanhha Lai and winning the National Book Award with her debut verse novel.
REVIEW:
Of John M. Barry's Roger Williams and The Creation of The American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty
REVIEW:
On Philip Taubman's The Partnership, about Cold Warriors working on a nuke-free world.
ARTICLE:
On the folks behind Goodreads.
ARTICLE:
For Sierra magazine, on an unusual alliance that is helping end coal-fired power in the Pacific Northwest.
REVIEW:
Condoleezza Rice's No Higher Honor
OP-ED:
"Why We Quit Spending"
REVIEW:
William Kennedy's Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes
REVIEW:
Richard White's Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America
PROFILE:
Noir mystery writer James Sallis
ARTICLE:
On a law that denies justice to aggrieved families
REVIEW:
Of James O'Shea's The Deal from Hell on the Zell takeover of Tribune
ANALYSIS:
On Obama nominee John E. Bryson
OP-ED:
"When fear trumps liberty"
REVIEW:
On Area 51, and secrets in the desert
REVIEW:
A book about lies, and their cultural corrosion
PROFILE:
Michael Shermer, the nation's "skeptic laureate"
OP-ED:
On Detroit, and its evaporating population
REVIEW:
I look at Stanley Meisler's look at the history of the Peace Corps
OP-ED
On nuclear energy, and asking the right questions
PROFILE:
Jonathan Lethem
REVIEW:
On Nicholas Delbanco's Lastingness
REVIEW:
Paul David Pope's The Deeds of My Fathers
REVIEW:
Simon Winchester's Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
PROFILE:
Author Bill Barich
REVIEW:
Of Anne Trubek's tours of dead authors' homes
PROFILE:
Mystery writer John Shannon
REVIEW:
On John Dower's Cultures of War
REVIEW:
On The Wave, about big waves and the people who love them
REVIEW:
On Sara Gruen's Ape House
ARTICLE:
On Gustavo Dudamel gone digital
ARTICLE:
There's more to Gilroy than garlic
ARTICLE:
On singer-songwriter Peter Case
REVIEW:
On Jon Clinch's Kings of the Earth
ARTICLE:
On anthropologist Jennifer Perry, and California's Channel Islands
ARTICLE:
A look at political polemics in hardcover
REVIEW:
Of Scott Turow's Innocent for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer
ARTICLE:
Interview piece with Scott Turow
Op-Ed piece
On Ludlow, and the West Virginia mine tragedy (for the LA Times)
ARTICLE:
On Exene Cervenka for Orange Coast
ARTICLE:
On Mark Twain's image problem
ARTICLE:
On Terry Teachout and Pops, his new bio of Louis Armstrong.
ARTICLE:
A look in the LA Times at the launch of Sarah Palin's memoir.
REVIEW:
On The Fourth Part of the World, a history of how America got it's name, in The Washington Post
ARTICLE:
On Barbara Demick's forthcoming Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
ARTICLE:
Short profile of critic Terry Teachout on his forthcoming bio of Louis Armstrong.
REVIEW:
Kazuo Ishiguro's short story collection, Nocturnes.
ARTICLE:
On Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code
ARTICLE:
"Harry Helling's Uncertain Voyage"
ARTICLE:
Profile of author Maile Meloy.
TRAVEL:
On AAA baseball in Fresno, the budget alternative to the bigs.
REVIEW:
Pat Conroy's South of Broad, not up to his full narrative power.
ARTICLE:
Fun piece on a yacht club without a yacht, a dock or, nowadays, a clubhouse.
BOOK REVIEW:
Of Nick Reding's Methland, exploring the devastating effects of meth on small-town America.
BOOK REVIEW:
Another version of the Reding review, this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
TRAVEL:
A road trip up the California coast -- from brewpub to brewpub.
BOOK REVIEW:
Elizabeth Edwards' Resilience in the LA Times.
BOOK REVIEW:
Of J. Robert Lennon's Castle in the LA Times.
ARTICLE:
Short interview/profile of Reza Aslan, author of No God But God and How To Win A Cosmic War.
ARTICLE:
On Barry Rillera, former Righteous Brothers guitar player who shared a secret with The Beatles.
BOOK REVIEW:
Ifill and Asim books on Obama, race and politics.
ARTICLE:
On Detroit's Focus:HOPE
TRAVEL:
"It was cool outside. The rain had stopped, but the dampness seeped into our bones with the chill of death."
TRAVEL:
A piece on eco-friendly travel to San Diego.
TRAVEL:
Advancing the annual Hatch, N. Mex., chili festival.
ARTICLE:
An Hour Detroit piece on bipolar disorder and Heinz Prechter's suicide.
BOOK REVIEW:
Rick Wartzman's book on the burning of The Grapes of Wrath.
PROFILE:
Long-shot presidential contender Duncan Hunter.
TRAVEL:
On the semi-annual opening of the Trinity site - where the first atomic bomb was detonated

Where my work has appeared

Biography

Scott Martelle, a veteran journalist, is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. He also has worked at newspapers in Wellsville, Jamestown and Rochester, New York, and in Detroit, where he was an active participant in the 1995 newspaper strike. A native of Scarborough, Maine, he lives in Irvine, California, with his wife, Margaret, and their sons, Michael and Andrew.

Dockside at Peaks Island, Portland, Maine, a favorite spot.
Ludlow today

Biography:
The extended-play version


Scott Martelle, a third-generation journalist, was born in Scarborough, Maine, and grew up there and in Wellsville, New York, about two hours south of Buffalo. His first newspaper job came at age 16, writing a high school sports column for the Wellsville Patriot, a weekly (defunct), then covering local news part-time for the Wellsville Daily Reporter. After attending Fredonia State, where he was editor of The Leader newspaper and news director for WCVF campus radio, he worked in succession for the Jamestown Post-Journal, Rochester Times-Union (defunct), The Detroit News and the Los Angeles Times, where he has covered presidential campaigns, books, local news and features, including several Sunday magazine pieces. Freelance work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review (books in brief), Buffalo News, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Teaching Tolerance (Southern Poverty Law Center), Solidarity (United Auto Workers) and elsewhere. He also speaks occasionally at school and college classes about journalism, politics and writing.