Daniel Okrent

The daughter of Richard Rodgers, confidante of Stephen Sondheim and composer of “Once Upon a Mattress” holds nothing back in “Shy.”

Christopher Knowlton’s “Bubble in the Sun” tells a story of fortunes made and lost in Florida real estate.

In “The Guarded Gate” Daniel Okrent explores the 1920s nativist and eugenicist movements that led to the 1924 law practically shutting down immigration to America.

There was a time when even Ivy League scientists supported racial restrictions at the border.

David McCullough tells the story of the bicycle mechanics from Ohio who ushered in the age of flight.

Note to California: Prohibition’s repeal didn’t lead to lower income taxes.

AND so all good (and tense and terrible and exciting) things must come to an end. When I began in this job in December 2003, I had a list of about 20 topics I knew I wanted to address. In the ensuing months, I got to about half of those, and devoted the rest of my time and space to issues that exploded out of the pages of the paper and my e-mail in-box. The 10 I never got to are now hanging in a closet with about 50 others. What follows, you will soon see, is an all but random selection. 1. In my very first column I identified myself as ''an absolutist'' on the First Amendment. Apart from having come to realize that absolutism in the pursuit of self-definition can be a bit reckless, my thoughts on journalism and the First Amendment have changed considerably. I still cherish the First; I still think it's the cornerstone of democracy. But I would love to see journalists justify their work not by wrapping themselves in the cloak of the law, but by invoking more persuasive defenses: accuracy, for instance, and fairness.

When I began in this job in December 2003, I had a list of about 20 topics I knew I wanted to address. I got to about half of those.

Readers respond to a column on the use of anonymous sources.

SOMETIME in the next few days The Times's staff will be presented a statement titled ''Preserving Our Readers' Trust.'' Prepared by a committee of reporters and editors led by assistant managing editor Allan M. Siegal, the document will offer recommendations addressing such subjects as sourcing, bias, the division between news and opinion, and communication with readers. Staff members will be invited to comment, and then executive editor Bill Keller will determine which recommendations to adopt, adapt or dismiss. I haven't seen the recommendations, but I suspect that those having to do with anonymous sources will be the most controversial among the reporting staff. Reporters who work the corridors of criminal justice, the foreign policy world and the intelligence community cannot do their jobs without unidentified sources. Many who cover those twin cesspools of duplicity, self-regard and back-stabbing -- Hollywood and politics -- are addicted to the practice. And implicit in much of the criticism aimed at any journalist who uses a blind quote is the unpleasant suggestion of dishonorable behavior.