Longtime Washington political columnist and television political pundit Robert D. Novak died yesterday, ending a virtually unparalleled 60-year career of reporting on national politics from the nation’s capitol. David Broder, Jack Shafer. Tim Carney, Stephen Miller, Jeffrey Bell and the WSJ Editors do a good job of putting this formidable career and fascinating man in perspective.

Inasmuch as I was not particularly interested in Novak’s obsessive-style of political reporting in his columns and on television, I didn’t appreciate Novak until late in life. That changed when a friend recommended Novak’s The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington (Crown 2007) (prior post here), which I probably would never have read but for my friend’s urging.

Turns out that The Prince of Darkness is a thoroughly enjoyable read, particularly because Novak passes along his reflections on the relationships he had with virtually every major figure in American politics over the past 60 years, which pretty well spans my lifetime. I went from not really being interested in Novak to not being able to put the book down. It remains one of the most unexpectedly delightful books that I’ve read in the past couple of years.

Characters such as Novak are rare these days, and we are not the better for that.