The Washington Post today posted a fairly positive review of a new book by David Kindred that seeks to give an insider's view of the newspaper's recent struggles, both financially and managerially.

“Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post” (Doubleday 2010) was reviewed by Rem Rieder, editor of American Journalism Review and among the industry's best media scribes.

“The book has an insider's feel, and no wonder: The Post opened itself up to Kindred, and he interviewed 155 people, most of them current or former Post staffers,” Riemer writes. “After reading 'Game Change,' a relentlessly fascinating political page-turner packed with anonymous quotes, it was shocking -- in a good way -- to encounter a book consisting almost entirely of on-the-record material."

Rieder gives Kindred credit for showing both the ups and downs of the Post as it steers through cutbacks, changing political landscapes and its own in-house managerial upheavals.

“Despite his affection for his subject, Kindred is by no means in the tank. He is merciless in his treatment of publisher Katharine Weymouth for her plan to host 'salons' at her home, events for which high-rolling sponsors would pay handsomely for the privilege of mixing with Washington players and Post reporters at off-the-record sessions. After the plan became public and was widely criticized, as Kindred puts it, for 'selling seats to representatives of special interests,' Weymouth scrapped it and apologized to readers. Kindred also skewers Weymouth for expressing her distaste for 'depressing' stories that advertisers don't like," Rieder writes.

He later notes: “A particularly poignant episode in the book is the departure of longtime Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., an accomplished and widely respected journalist who succeeded the great Ben Bradlee. (Says Kaiser, 'Ben created the Post. Len perfected it.') Weymouth had taken over as publisher, and she was looking for a more Web-focused editor to oversee the much-needed merger of The Post's print and online operations. But Downie, who started his Post career in 1964, didn't see it coming. He was particularly upset to get the word not from Graham, his longtime partner-in-Post, the man who had named him to the top newsroom job, but from Post Co. Vice Chairman Boisfeuillet 'Bo' Jones Jr.”