Arthur Gelb, former managing editor of The New York Times and author of City Room, which is coming out in paperback in November. CITY ROOM covers Gelb’s five decades at the Times, where he began as a night copy boy in 1944 and retired 45 years later as managing editor. The memoir is a glimpse of 50 years of history, but it also traces the revolutionary changes that took place at the Times during that time and offers unique insight into the world of journalism.

Excluding his family, Gelb has three loves: journalism, New York City and the New York Times newspaper. He began there as a copy boy in 1944 and retired as managing editor in 1990. Gelb was also a drama critic for a period at the Times, and he and his wife wrote a biography of Eugene O’Neill.