Burl: Journalism Giant and Medical Trailblazer

The riveting biography of Burl Osborne, former chairman of The Associated Press and publisher of The Dallas Morning News, who waged and won one of the last great newspaper wars in the U.S.Burl is the story of one man’s unlikely rise from the coal mines of Appalachia to the pinnacle of journalism. After being diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease as a child, Burl Osborne pioneered home dialysis treatment and became the 130th person to undergo a live kidney transplant in 1966—then an unproven, high-risk operation.While managing his challenging illness, Burl distinguished himself early as a writer and reporter with The Associated Press, eventually rising to the top of the wire service’s executive ranks. Then, against the advice of his colleagues and the newspaper’s own doctors, he sought an even greater challenge: joining The Dallas Morning News to lead the fight in one of America’s last great newspaper wars. Throughout his life and career, he garnered respect from business and political leaders, reporters, editors, and publishers around the country. Burl thrusts readers into the improbable and remarkable life of a man at the forefront of both medicine and a golden age of journalism.  "Photos and excerpts from Osborne’s own writing bring his colorful personality to life: he captured the nation’s attention, for example, with reports on a man in West Virginia who nearly lost his dog in a mine shaft but emerged 'half laughing and almost crying as he carried his 3-year-old rabbit hound off the mountain.' The result is a moving testament to a consequential figure." — Publisher's Weekly