Autopsy of War: A personal History

Author: John A. Parrish,M.D.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press

Autopsy of War
John A Parish

As a book publicity firm, we see lots of books cross our desks here at Newman Communications and some make a strong statement to those of us working them.  This book is no exception, and in fact, it prompted me to make a donation to the USO and tell my friends and colleagues about it. How does a man or woman return from war and resume a “normal” life. How do you deal with the horrors that you have seen during war and transform back to everyday life?  John Parrish’s book, Autopsy of War, shows that it is not an easy task for our returning warriors.  Even with a very successful medical career, Parrish couldn’t shake the PTSD that haunted his every move.  John Parrish came to us for a full book publicity campaign in the hopes that his experience  will reach those most in need of his message, the many soldiers that think they are alone with their anguish. Whether they have lost limbs or the damage is unseen to the eye, the struggle that our returning heroes face is gigantic.

Navy physician John Parrish served in Vietnam, an experience that seared him to the bone.  In the ensuing four decades, Parrish became recognized as one of the most innovative physicians in his field, yet he was tortured by PTSD.  Now, in AUTOPSY OF WAR: A Personal History, Parrish presents a profound and unflinching memoir of a physician’s wartime work in Vietnam and his forty-year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

John’s struggle was highlighted in The Boston Globe interview for their G Section and our radio publicity campaign has garnered many hits including:

• Clearchannel Network & SiriusXM
• Premiere Radio Network – national
• Lifestyle Radio Network – national
  and local radio stations nationwide

When he first arrived in Vietnam, Parrish was a triage doctor, treating as many as thirty patients a day with wounds more destructive and life-altering than anything he had ever encountered.  He did his best but never felt like it was enough.  Dismembered limbs and other body parts flowed through his hands for hours on end, and these tragic triage scenes were not something his mind would ever  forget.  When not working on wounded servicemen, Parrish also tended to patients at a tuberculosis hospital in Hue, which was run by Vietnamese Catholic nuns.  He felt he was doing some good there, until the Tet Offensive brought the Viet Cong to Hue, where they executed the patients because they had been treated by an American doctor, and also killed the nuns for working with Parrish. Parrish would also spend time in the field, which was a particularly difficult time for him, since it was then, says Parrish, that “I felt a duty to find meaning in the war so I could convince myself the dead had not died in vain.”

Although happy to return home to the States, Parrish left Vietnam feeling guilty about leaving behind so much suffering.  He also returned home a different person. He found himself physically and emotionally unavailable to his wife and children, developed an obsession with war books and movies, and over the ensuing years, would suffer harrowing flashbacks.  Fighting the mental devastation of war, Parrish lived virtually homeless at times, visited veterans’ shelters and fled his family while reliving his Vietnam experience over and over again.  Despite the fact that he managed to establish a prominent medical career, few knew how his inner demons took over the rest of his life.  “I found myself increasingly restless, tortured, and lonely,” says Parrish, “never more so than at social events or professional meetings where my peers assumed I was in control.”  The present continued to mingle with the past as haunting images of Vietnam lingered in his mind, until the door to recovery finally opened after years of pain and struggle.

AUTOPSY OF WAR is a soul-searching and intensely personal journey through the world of war and recovery. An honest, moving, and intimate view of one man’s courageous battle to overcome PTSD, it is a highly relevant story today as soldiers return to the U.S. from abroad with challenges to face.  “I accept that there will always be war,” says Parrish, “but I need to believe more can be done to help its victims, specifically the warriors who have left the battlefield but not their personal war.  This book is witness to the power of time, acceptance, self-discovery, hard work, and love in belatedly diminishing one man’s psychic war.”

About the Author:

JOHN A PARRISH, M.D., is the CEO of the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT); the CEO of the Red Sox Foundation-Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program (an outreach program to help veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars with PTSD and traumatic brain injury); and Distinguished Professor of Dermatology and former department head at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.  He is the author of 12, 20 & 5: A Doctor’s Year in Vietnam.

To learn more about Autopsy of War please visit:  http://autopsyofwar.com/

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Book Promotion for DREAM BIG:

Dream Big
Deloris Jordan

Author:  Deloris Jordan
Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

Newman Communications is proud to announce that we have just completed a successful book promotion radio (RMT) tour with Deloris Jordan,  mother of NBA legend Michael Jordan.  We previously did the book promotion of her last book MICHAEL’S GOLDEN RULES and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her again.  Her new book, DREAM BIG: MICHAEL JORDAN AND THE PURSUIT OF OLYMPIC GOLD tells the story of Michael Jordan achieving his dream of playing in the Olympics! This new book will have you cheering for Michael again and will get you pumped for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London!

About The Book:

Deloris Jordan,  mother of basketball great Michael Jordan, tells a true story of inspiration, hard work, determination and what it takes to be a champion.  As a child, l0ng before he became a professional All- Star basketball player, Michael Jordan had a big dream of winning an Olympic gold medal while following the 1972 U.S. basketball team- and with dedication and perseverance, that’s exactly what he did. This heartwarming book gives a rare glimpse into a sports hero’s childhood while emphasizing the role that hard work plays in success.

Just in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, DREAM BIG is an inspiration to all. Mrs. Jordan’s family story will inspire children to be champions- both on and off the field.  Barry Roots warm illustrations illuminate this story about what it truly means to be a winner.

Newman Communications was able to secure interviews on such stations as:

• SiriusXM Book Radio
• WLS-AM in Chicago,  IL
• AARP Radio
• WGVU-AM/ FM in Grand Rapids, MI
• WBAL-AM in Baltimore,  MD
• AP Radio Network

About the Author and Illustrator:

Deloris Jordan is Michael Jordan’s mother. Widely regarded as an advocate for children and families,  she does much of her work through the James R. Jordan Foundation.  She is author of Salt in His Shoes and Michael’s Golden Rules, both illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The mother of five children and the grandmother of eleven,  she resides in Chicago, IL.

Barry Root is the illustrator of many books for children, including By My Brother’s Slide, Game Day, and Teammates, all written by Tiki and Ronde Barber with Robert Burleigh. He lives in Quarryville, Pennsylvania with his family.

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Following Atticus

Author: Tom Ryan
Publisher: William Morrow

Following Atticus - Tom Ryan

Newman Communications’ faith in humanity was restored when we were visited by author Tom Ryan and his buddy Atticus M. Finch.  Atticus, who is the central character in Ryan’s book, Following Atticus is an adorable miniature schnauzer.  Atticus was a perfect guest and but didn’t have very much to say, so he let Tom Ryan do all the talking.  Tom and Atticus had just completed a successful  radio book  publicity campaign which found them talking of their adventures with more than 25 stations across the country, including:

• NPR in WI
• USA Radio Network
• Lifestyle Network

Now once again, with Atticus in the lead, Tom  came  back to Newman Communications  to begin a new adventure in TV, Online and Print book publicity campaign for Following Atticus.

Get a quick look at the beautiful trailer for the book

About the Author

Tom Ryan is the founder of the Newburyport, Massachusetts, newspaper the Undertoad and served as its publisher and editor for more than a decade. It wasn’t until he bonded with Atticus that he realized how stressed and unhappyhe was. Middle-aged, overweight, and acrophobic Tom and Atticus were an unlikely pair of mountaineers, but after a close friend dies of cancer, the two pay tribute to her by attempting to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire’s four-thousand-foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity. In a rare test of endurance, Tom and Atticus set out on an adventure of a lifetime that takes them across hundreds of miles and deep into an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland.

As Ryan says:  “In telling the story of my friend, Atticus M. Finch, I often think of the something Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote, ‘Perhaps the act of love is my gently leading you back to yourself.’ For that’s what this little dog did. He led, I followed, and in the end I became the man I dreamed of being when I was a little boy.”

“Not your standard mountain adventure book. . . . Reading Following Atticus can feel like taking a long walk, or a series of walks, with a great storyteller. Why ‘follow Atticus?’ Because, [Ryan says], ‘Dogs, like mountains, bring you back to yourself.’” (AMC Outdoors ).

Tom Ryan, Atticus and Newman Communications would like to help you  see what it means to love an animal, find your true self and maybe create a few smiles along the way.

To learn more about Following Atticus please visit: http://tomandatticus.blogspot.com/

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

A Major League Book Promotion Tour

Out of My League - Dirk Hayhurst

When asked what comes to mind when you think about spring, book promotion usually isn’t the answer you get. Instead your likely to hear answers like, Green Grass, Flowers, and … BASEBALL! Yes, spring training is here! The grass is cut,  the teams are practicing and before you know it will be Opening Day! Get out your peanuts, cracker jacks, and your favorite baseball cap and get ready to cheer on the hometown team. While some of us are content to cheering in the stands, others have bigger dreams. Dreams of taking a major league outfield, the pitchers mound,  or running the bases after hitting a home run! That’s where Dirk Hayhurst’s story starts, when he got called up from the minors in 2008 to play for the San Diego Padres! Newman Communications had the great great opportunity to provide and coordinate Dirk’s book promotion and publicity tour packed with with a radio and print exposure!

Newman Communications was able to get interviews on such radio stations and publications as:

• WBUR in Boston, MA
• WKSU in Kent, Ohio
• MLBBLOG.com
• SportsNet Radio
• Toronto Star

About the Book

The book tells the story of how Dirk Hayhurst got his big break by playing in the major leagues.  After six years of laying it on the line in the minors, pitcher Dirk Hayhurst hopes 2008 is the year he will break into the big leagues.  But every time Dirk looks up, the bases are loaded with new challenges, on and off the field: a wedding balancing on blind hope, a family in chaos, and paychecks that beg Dirk to ask, “How long can I afford to keep doing this?”

Then it finally happens- Dirk gets called up to the Majors, to play for the San Diego Padres.  A dream comes  true when he takes the mound against the  San Francisco Giants, kicking off forty insane days and nights in the Bigs- with a big paycheck, bigger-than life personalities, and the biggest pressure he’s ever felt.

About the Bestselling Author, Dirk Hayhurst

Dirk Hayhurst is the author of the New York Times best seller THE BULLPEN GOSPELS.  Drafted from Kent State University in 2003 as a senior sign, Hayhurst has pitched professionally for nine years on more than eight minor league teams and two major league teams, including the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2011, he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays and pitched for their Triple A-Team, the Durham Bulls in Durham, NC.  Hayhurst was born in Canton, Ohio, and resides in the off-season in Hudson, Ohio, with his wife Bonnie, a music therapist.

It was great to work with Dirk Hayhurst. Check out his book,  OUT OF MY LEAGUE in stores now and good luck to your team this season!

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Book Publicity for The Pact: Bill Clinton, New Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation

Author: Steven M Gillon
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The Pact

Celebrated historian Steven M. Gillon has teamed up with Newman Communications for a national book publicity radio tour in support of his new book, The Pact: Bill Clinton, New Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation. This election year book publicity tour took Gillon around the country to discuss presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his relationship with former President Bill Clinton. Newman worked with the author to secure spots on local and national radio stations including interviews with

• Dan Raviv on the CBS Radio Network
• Sirius XM broadcast with Rusty Humphries
• Louisiana Radio Network (NPR)
• America’s Radio News Network

About the Book:

Seventeen years before he would run for President, Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and a conservative revolution began. The next five years were filled with national debate and political clashes. Gingrich’s main foe was then Commander in Cheif, Bill Clinton. Steven M. Gillon’s The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation, tells the story of the unique and unexpected relationship between the two powerful men. Although the differences between Gingrich and Clinton are well known, the times that they worked together – and the similarities that they shared – are often overlooked. In The Pact, Gillon utilizes interviews with key Washington players to tell the story of how Clinton and Gingrich began to work together after the government shutdown of 1995. Gillon paints a fascinating portrait of two men who were once the center of all things politics. This book offers compelling new revelations and a unique insight into national politics. The Pact is a must read for anyone interest in politics and current events, regardless of party lines.

About the Author

Steven M Gillon is the Resident Historian of the History Channel and Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. He is the host of the History Channel’s flagship public affairs program, HistoryCenter, as well as “Our Generation”. He is an award-winning teacher and the author of a number of critically acclaimed books, including The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After and Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War.

“Newman did a great job on The Pact. Your book promotion efforts help turn a four-year-old book into a New York Times best seller. I only wish I had found you about ten years ago.”

Steve Gillon
Author: The Pact

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Book Publicity – DON’T PUT ME IN COACH

Author: Mark Titus
Publisher: Doubleday

Mark Titus

College sports are electrifying to watch! Who can forget Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass or the 1985 Villanova vs.  Georgetown Championship game? But some players barely get off the bench like former Ohio State player Mark Titus.  Titus takes you on a journey from one end of the bench to the other end with a look behind the scenes of the NCAA-hoops  in DON’T PUT ME IN COACH; a hilarious memior.  Newman Communications provided book publicity for Titus and set up a radio book tour for the bench warmer, including hits with:

• KNBR in San Francisco,  CA
• FOX Sports

Titus gives readers an uncensored tour inside an elite NCAA basketball player through the eyes of the benchwarmer. From his relationships with teammates, the pressure, and the many hours he clocked cheering for his team on the sideline- Mark Titus does not miss a humorous beat.  His unique perspective materialized into wildly popular Club Trillion blog for which he quickly became a hero to all guys picked last.  He was even scouted by the Harlem Globtrotters. Certain to make you laugh-out-loud,  Mark  Titus is not your average basketball star; and this is the true story of the most unlikely career in college basketball told from the underdog himself.

In 2006, Mark Titus arrived on Ohio State’s campus as a basketball manager who aspired to be an orthopedic surgeon.  As a walk-on,  he was miraculously added to the elite Buckeye basketball team,  given a scholarship and trained alongside seven future NBA players- including Greg Oden, Evan Turner,  and Mike Conley.  During his 4 years with the Buckeye’s he set the record for the most indivual career wins in Ohio State basketball history- and scored a total of 9 points.

The book is full of  laughs and quotes from his former coach and teammates including:

“Of all the players  I’ve coached in my caree,  Mark Titus is one of them.” ~ Coach Thad Matta

“I  haven’t read the book and probally never will, but the cover looks pretty cool I guess.” ~ Mike Conely Jr (#4 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft; 2007 NCAA Tournament South Regional MVP.

About the Author

Mark Titus is the creator of Clubtrillion.blogspot.com,  and a contributer at grantland.com. He was feature several times in the New York Times, ESPN.com, and Bill Simon’s podcast, among others.  He  graduated in 2010, a hero to millions.

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

When I Stop Talking You’ll Know I’m Dead

Author: Jerry Weintraub with Rich Cohen
Publisher: Twelve (Hachette Book Group)

When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead

Newman Communications brought Jerry Weintraub’s  story to life  with a book publicity tour that had him speaking with national  radio networks including Westwood One, Talk America, and the USA Radio Networks.  Jerry also spoke to major stations such as WBZ in Boston, WCBS in New York, and KABC in Los Angeles as well as to numerous local stations across the country.

In WHEN I STOP TALKING, YOU’LL KNOW I’M DEAD, written with Rich Cohen, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, we follow entertainment titan Jerry Weintraub from his first great success at age twenty-six with Elvis Presley, whom he took on the road with the help of Colonel Tom Parker, to immortal days with Sinatra, and his crowning hits as a movie producer, starting with Robert Altman’s Nashville, continuing with Diner, Oh, God!, and The Karate Kid series, among others, and summiting with Steven Soderbergh and Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen, which together earned well over a billion dollars worldwide.

About The Book

Weintraub shepherds us from the poker tables of Palm Springs (the games went on for days) to the power rooms of Hollywood, and from the halls of the White House to Red Square in Moscow and the Great Palace in Beijing—all the while counseling potentates, poets, and kings, with clients and confidants like Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bobby Fischer, George H. W. Bush, Armand Hammer, George Clooney, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon . . . the list goes on.

With wit, wisdom, and the cool confidence that has colored his remarkable career, Weintraub chronicles a quintessentially American journey, one marked by luck, love, and improvisation. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn are essential, not just for those who love movies and music, but for businessmen, entrepreneurs, artists . . . for everyone.

About The Author:

JERRY WEINTRAUB has spent more than five decades in show business, in the process earning a reputation as one of the savviest negotiators, smartest producers, and shrewdest film investors of our time. He has been praised and honored for his philanthropic work and, as UNICEF’s Man of the Year, was presented the organization’s Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award.

RICH COHEN, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, is the author of five books, including the bestsellers Tough Jews, The Avengers, and Israel Is Real.

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Author: David Vann
Publisher: Harper Perennial

David Vann’s reputation certainly precedes him making Newman Communications all the more enthusiastic for his book promotion and book publicity campaign. The Newman Team provided Mr. Vann with a Book Publicity and Radio Media Tour,  providing the outstanding book promotion service and results he deserves.

About the Book:

The Legend of a Suicide, Vann’s debut fiction collection, includes five stories and a novella joined by one, unavoidable incident: the suicide of Roy Fenn’s father. From Roy’s dramatic birth on a remote Alaskan Island to his boyhood fascination with tropical fish; from a detailed and dark speculation of his own suicide and what it would mean to his long-dead father to his 30-year old self returning to his childhood hometown to confront his father’s first mistress and the origin of his despair: this semiautobiographical collection transforms “tragedy into art.”

Vann gives each story a different context and perspective, allowing a unique and sincere connection with the protagonist, and catapulting Vann into his own place among contemporary literature.

Prizes & Awards for Legend of a Suicide:

• Winner of The New York Times Editors pick
• New York Times Notable Book
• Winner of the Grace Paley Prize
• A California Book Award Winner
• San Francisco Chronicle top fifty
• Story Prize Notable book
• Kansas City Star Top ten story Collections
• Esquire’s Contributor Award Winner

About the Author:

David Vann is a professor at the University of San Francisco. A contributor to Esquire, The Atlantic, Men’s Journal, Outside, and National Geographic Adventure, he is the author of a bestselling memoir, A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea, and the forthcoming Last Day On Earth: A Portrait of the NIU Shooter, Steve Kazmierczak. His website is www.davidvann.com

Prizes & Awards for David Vann:

• National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship
• Wallace Stegner Fellowship
• AWP Nonfiction Prize

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Why I Stayed - Gayle Haggard

Newman Communications is leading a national radio book publicity tour for Gayle Haggard’s new book titled,  Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour. With hits including stations like the Thom Hartmann Program and WMUZ-FM Detroit, this publicity tour is off to a great start

Imagine this lead line being read on your television. Imagine the shock and disbelief that yet another religious leader has succumbed to immoral behavior. Now imagine that leader is your beloved husband of 28 years.

Gayle Haggard was certainly surprised to hear the accusations of her husband Ted’s alleged ‘sexual immorality,’ but she was truly ashamed to discover that the allegations were not entirely untrue.

In the firestorm of media coverage and public humiliation, Gayle was left questioning the future. What would happen to her 28-year marriage? How would this affect their five children? What would become of the church and ministry she and Ted had lovingly devoted themselves to for the last 22 years? Did she really know her own husband?

The decisions Gayle made during those dark days eventually led to the healing of her marriage, family and her own broken heart. In Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour (Jan. 26, 2010/Tyndale), Gayle chronicles her emotional journey and how she survived her severest test.

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

The Snowball - Warren Buffet

In this startlingly frank account of Buffett’s life, Author, Alice Schroeder, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley—and hand picked by Buffett to be his biographer—strips away the mystery that has long cloaked the word’s richest man to reveal a life and fortune erected around lucid and inspired business vision and unimaginable personal complexity. In a book that is dominated by unstinting descriptions of Buffett’s appetites—for profit, women (particularly nurturing maternal types), food (Buffett maintained his and his family’s weight by “dangling money”)—it is refreshing that Schroeder keeps her tone free of judgment or awe; Buffett’s plain-speaking suffuses the book and renders his public and private successes and failures wonderfully human and universal. Schroeder’s sections detailing the genesis of Buffett’s investment strategy, his early mentoring by Benjamin Graham (who imparted the memorable “cigar butt” scheme: purchasing discarded stocks and taking a final puff). Inspiring managerial advice abounds and competes with gossipy tidbits (the married Buffett’s very public relationship with Washington Post editor Katherine Graham) in this rich, surprisingly affecting biography

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.