I love to read well-written history books and insightful political journalism. Perhaps that’s why I have always been such a fan of Eric Black, who today announces his retirement as a MinnPost columnist.
Eric first worked for me when I was the editor of the Star Tribune, in the 1980s. During his Strib tenure, he produced — among other things — three great series putting modern events into historical context:
- “Our Constitution: The Myth that Binds Us”
- “Parallel Realities: A Jewish/Arab History of Israel/Palestine”
- “Rethinking the Cold War”
They were all turned into books. They are all still worth reading.
I was thrilled when then-managing editor Roger Buoen snagged Eric for MinnPost after he left the Strib. Here, he informed and entertained readers with his essays on everything from the ills of the Electoral College to the increasing partisanship of the Supreme Court and the failures of journalistic objectivity. Always, he put what happened yesterday (the meat of the journalism game) into the context of what happened long before yesterday. For his efforts, he won a national Sigma Delta Chi award for online column writing.
Eric had a loyal following at MinnPost. His pieces were among the most commented-upon, and the comments (for the most part) added further insight about the world we live in and the divisiveness of our politics.
On a personal level, I always found Eric to be extremely modest about his skills and accomplishments, and very respectful of those who see the world differently than he does. Good traits, both.
Congratulations, Eric, on a distinguished career. You have served Minnesota well.
If you’d like to send Eric a note of appreciation, you can do so here.
well you sure did have a penchant to get the natives riled up! Thanks for the perspectives.
Hoping that MINNPOST will find another regular opinion writer: Maybe even two. Right and Left skewing. Or even a rotation of personalities representing opinion on our state, nation and world from the MN point of view.
Always fun to read the efforts of some CAE official justifying their world view on a topic of the day…
Like Edward, I hope MinnPost can find a way to carry on Eric’s legacy in some form.
I will absolutely, totally, irrefutably miss his writing, even though he will surely find retirement a magnificent experience. Thanks to MinnPost for allowing his viewpoints to be seen and to Eric Black for making me smarter than I was before reading his works.
I always enjoyed reading Eric’s work. Glad he found this spot after “not being pushed out” at the Strib.
Finally. He was the most partisan writer in the supposedly non-partisan paper. Anyway, good luck and I hope he enjoys retirement. Seriously. We can agree to disagree civilly.