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"This graceful memoir will make you sit up and salute a noble soul even as you lament the passing of an era when newspapers were led by unforgettable editors like him." —Bill Moyers

Dancing Naked with the Rolling Stones
A Life in News and a Good-bye to Booze

Bill Mcilwain
6 x 9, 236 pages
ISBN 978-0-9789736-0-5, hardcover $24.95 USD

During the fast -paced and fascinating years that Bill McIlwain spent as editor of some of North America's most prestigious newspapers, he met and worked with the great, the petty, the famous, the eccentric. He also confronted his problem with alcoholism.

In Dancing Naked with the Rolling Stones, McIlwain tells both sides of the story-and how he learned to cope, finding peace and happiness in radical ways. His humble, humorous, thought-provoking account gives readers an intimate glimpse into American newspapering and, at the same time, into his own soul.

From the heyday of Harry Guggenheim and Alicia Patterson's groundbreaking Newsday to Boston and Washington insider politics, from the world-changing events of the 1960s and '70s to the Sun Belt suburbs of the 1980s and '90s, Bill McIlwain's tales entertain and inspire.

What journalists are saying about
DANCING NAKED WITH THE ROLLING STONES

"One of the outstanding books about newspapers" —Stan Isaacs, thecolumnists.com

"A newspaperman's life in full, told with a mixture of page-one punch and lasting grace . . . " —Evan Thomas, assistant managing editor, Newsweek

Bill McIlwain is one of those rare newspaper editors whose ink-stained wretches were prepared to die for even as he was killing himself with booze. Hard-working and hard-drinking, he fought heroically to save himself from Demon Rum and one newspaper after another from extinction. His tenacious courage won out, and this graceful memoir will make you sit up and salute a noble soul even as you lament the passing of an era when newspapers were led by unforgettable editors like him. —Bill Moyers

"An uplifting tale of newspaper ink and destructive drink by the first editor to inspire me in the journalism game. Bill McIlwain is a survivor with a sharp sense of humor and a reckless knack for bucking his bosses, as this brutally candid memoir makes clear." —Howard Kurtz, writer, Washington Post, and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources"

"Bill McIlwain looks back on a troubled life with total candor and honesty . . . set within a roller-coaster career in journalism that has taken him to the top echelons. . . . As I read the final pages I wanted to stand up and applaud." —Tony Insolia

" . . . a memoir of remarkable honesty and grace . . . a journey through American newsrooms, into his own dark places and finally to a place of peace." —Charlotte Hall, editor, Orlando Sentinel

"Charm and wit course through Bill McIlwain's bloodstream and the pages of this book . . . hard-earned life lessons, almost offhandedly dispensed, and always with equanimity." — Allen Parsons, publisher, Ocala Star-Banner

"A great story about getting the most out of life as it rolls along. . . . it could be anyone who cares about news and about people." —Dave Laventhol

"Bill McIlwain . . . chronicles a life of newspapering that was both gritty and glorious." —Diane McFarlin, publisher, Sarasota Herald-Tribune