5 comments about The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism.

1. Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson's THE MURROW BOYS is very well researched and sourced. The writing is lively, and propels the reader happily forward. In this book, Cloud and Olson treat a fascinating and important subject that is largely forgotten in the contemporary world of news-as-entertainment.
   
   Edward R. Murrow had drawn together an erudite, talented group of thinkers and writers to form the first cadre of broadcast journalists. His crack team of radio reporters covered the tragedy and triumphs of what became known as World War II, in a way both immediate and personal, both intimate and emblematic, and above all literate. Occasionally, television journalism rises above popular tastes and pretty talking heads to inform and move the viewer on truly critical issues of the day, but never with the consistency and depth of insight of the Murrow Boys.
   
   The Murrow Boys, however, by and large shared a weakness with their later television counterparts: they were vain and egotistical, in short, "stars." Cloud and Olsen, aside from skillfully explaining the revolution in mass communications that radio journalism was, devote quite a bit of their book to the celebrity status of these prima donnas. This underscores the Murrow Boys' ultimate self-deception and hypocrisy: while they railed at the shallowness of television news production, programming, and personalities, they positioned themselves--each one out for himself--to grab as much limelight as possible. Ultimately, celebrity triumphed over journalistic integrity.
   
   Thus THE MURROW BOYs does come off as a fast-paced celebrity biography. As a celebrity biography, it is very successful: it is engaging and sophisticated. From that perspective, one might well treat it as one does an intelligent "beach read": light, entertaining reading that one does not have to hide.
   
   However that may be, the book gives one an appreciation for the significance of the Murrow Boys. Too bad, though, that the authors did not choose to include more text from the reporting of the Murrow Boys; that would have given the reader a greater appreciation of their eloquence. Better yet, a CD with some of these broadcasts would have made a nice accompaniment.
   
   And too bad that the authors did not choose to go beyond the Murrow Boys' celebrity to explain the impact of their reporting on the American public as well as how they may have helped to shape history. As an example of the misplaced priorities of the writers: There is an instance described late in the book about how Charles Collingwood was invited to North Vietnam in 1968 and how his reporting from Hanoi helped lead to the peace talks. This half-page is then followed up with three pages on the relationship between Collingwood and his wife, Rita, at this time.
   
   Despite these limitations, the book is still fun and informative. And it really ought to read as a reminder of the tremendous service delivered by Murrow's proud pioneers of the airwaves.



2. Written in lively and engrossing style, the Murrow Boys covers the salad days of Edward Murrow and his pioneering changes to war news broadcasts. Only after understanding how great a patriot and journalist Murrow was acknowledged to be in general public opinion, does it become clear how and why Murrow was able to take on Joe McCarthy virtually single-handedly. In addition, the internal politics of Bill Paley's CBS become even more riveting. So if you liked the movie, you will love the book.



3. What combination of forces put Murrow and "the boys" at the forefront of creating the style and format of the network news that is part of our daily lives? "The Murrow Boys : Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism" by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson appears to promise an answer to the question. While the book is well written, exhaustively researched, and filled with anecdotes, Cloud and Olson fail to deliver any new insight. After an introduction which sets the background, the authors structure the book around one-chapter biographies of the newsmen, often succombing to the temptation of wandering off into the byroads of celebrity biography, losing overall focus. In many cases, such as the commentary on Howard K. Smith, the biography presented here pales before the honest, understated drama and insight offered by the subjects in their own autobiographies--as in the case of Smith's totally riveting "Events Leading to My Death." And when the last mini-biography has been recounted, the book ends. I'm reminded of Snoopy writing his novel and saying "In Part 2 I tie all this together." Except the writers never tie it all together. Thus, it is an well done book, and for those unfamiliar with the biographies of the players, it will be an interesting book. When one considers the historical information to which the authors had access, the book could have been so much more. None of the newsmen celebrated in this book would have closed the broadcast without cogent commentary into the meaning of these facts and anecdotes before closing with "Good Night and Good luck."



4. This look at the "Boys" who covered World War II for CBS radio is quite moving. I liked reading of Ed Murrow's battles with the CBS brass, and the portraits of William L. Shirer, Eric Sevareid, Larry LeSueur, Myra Breckenridge (the Murrow "Girl"), Charles Collingwood, etc. How odd that such talented journalists were often wracked by jealousy and self-doubt. How predictable that CBS eventually dumped most of the Boys - along with their high standards - after the advent of television. By forsaking such talent, CBS helped usher in the image-conscious, bleeds-it-leads mediocrity of today's news. Fortunately, Howard K. Smith, Shirer, Sevareid and several others left a rich legacy in books and memoirs, and at this writing one can still hear Richard C. Hottelet report for National Public Radio (NPR). This book should be required reading for all journalists and corporate news executives.



5. The names Murrow, Sevareid, Collingwood, and Shirer have created standards that have been forgotten. Thought has been replaced by good looks. Read this book to see how CBS News became a news operation of mythic proportion with brilliant, yet terribly troubled men creating such high standards that have become forgotten. (You'll see no one on your local five pm television news here.) For these men, the importance was in writing, not pictures. You'll also see how these legendary men were racked with insecurities and self-torture. It's also uncanny in terms of how each had a rise and fall at CBS. Sadly, it's all true. The authors didn't need to resort to poetic license. (Read other accounts of these figures and you'll learn that.) When you're done with this book, you'll wish Howard K. Smith or Robert Trout were still on television today. You'll wish that instead of having happy talk on the news, you had thoughful, intelligent people who respected their audience doing reports that provoked the viewer's intellect and not pander to him. Read how Howard K. Smith was fired from CBS, what prompted it way back then, and realize the standards have been steadily declining since then on all networks. It's an enjoyable, easy-to-read book that describes the creation and erosion of impeccable standards.

5 comments about Chronicles of Wasted Time.

1. I've finally finished Chronicles of Wasted Time by Malcolm Muggeridge.
   
   The autobiography consists of two previously published volumes, The Green Stick and The Infernal Grove, as well as the previously unpublished beginning of a third volume, The Right Eye. The writing is superb. Clean, clear, exhilarating. (Although I did notice more typographical errors in the second volume than in the first.) Muggeridge (1903-1990) often references historical works and personalities, which shouldn't be surprising given that he spent most of his working years as a journalist.
   
   I was intrigued by how (apparently) easily he moved back and forth between journalism and working in the public sector.
   
   One complaint: The chapters are too long, averaging roughly 70 pages each. I assume this is partly why I read the tome slowly.
   
   The book was on my to-read list because it's on the Image Journal list.
   [...]



2. Endearing portrait of an old crank, a devilish view of ruined idealism and fond memories. Thought provoking, yet faith upholding.
   
   Loved it. Read it slowly, not in big bunches.



3. This book is what I call "chewy" - not one to just breeze through in a day or two as you would a bestseller. There is a lot going on here. I think MM had a manic-depressive disorder, and that comes to light in his other autobiographical book (of his diaries) as well. Interesting to read about his
   rocky journey through all the highs and lows, and how he finally finds serenity later in life.



4. It is almost sixteen years since the death of this great writer, broadcaster, actor, soldier-spy and latterly Christian apologist and his voice is greatly missed, particularly at this time with so many major and controversial issues dominating the news agenda. Because love him or loathe him, Muggeridge always had a unique, and often tangental, view to offer on the significant events of the day.
   Without doubt, Chronicles was his greatest work and should be compulsory reading for anyone learning English literature, for it will be found a totally engrossing read, start to finish. Spanning the early part of the twentieth century, Muggeridge was a master in use of the English language and his love of writing comes out on every page, together with his wit and wisdom. The Malcolm Muggeridge Society is bringing more of his work back into print and I'd like to think that it will be read not by existing fans but by a new generation.



5. While I don't claim to have read everything in English, this is the best-written book I've ever read. I remember hoping not to pass on before I'd finished it. Five stars is not enough for this absolutely delightful book, or rather two books. It was originally published in two volumes, "The Green Stick" and "The Infernal Grove", both included here. This is the first edition to include the remnants of the barely-begun third volume, "The Right Eye" (the Chronicles were to have been a trilogy).
   
   Thanks to the efforts of the Malcolm Muggeridge Society in London, here are all three (or two and a bit) books together. What's more, the introduction is by Ian Hunter, who penned his own riveting bio of MM, Malcolm Muggeridge: A Life, as well as assembling short bits and shreds from hither and yon in The Very Best of Malcolm Muggeridge.
   
   To my view, the Chronicles are the very best of MM. Were he to have some place in the literature of the last century, this is the book that would assure it. Not that he would want a place. He considered himself a journalist, not a writer, or as he loved to quote St. Augustine, "a vendor of words". However, as Ian Hunter reveals, he was not simply an observer but a player on the scene of the most tumultuous century in history. As biographer Richard Ingrams has noted, he seemed to know everyone and be everywhere.
   
   In a sense, there was a third book, called Conversion, which appeared instead of The Right Eye. It's the only book he wrote after becoming a Roman Catholic in 1982, and appeared with various subtitles. It's not, as one might think, about becoming an RC, although it does cover that. Oddly enough it's written in the third person, and subject-wise takes up where his book and TV show, A Third Testament, left off, in chronicling his various inspirations. It's best read after the Chronicles, as he retreads some of the same ground, commenting and adding anecdotal reflections.
   
   As much as one would long to read The Right Eye in its entirety, this is all we have. One imagines him reciting that third book somewhere to rollicking applause, for closing this volume one gets the sense that even after a long and prolific life he left us much too soon, and with music still in him.

5 comments about Stet: An Editor's Life.

1. I read Stet, about Diana Athill's career as an editor, after immensely enjoying her later biography (Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir, written as she approached 90).
   
   Athill is a candid, empathetic, and witty observer of herself, her surroundings, and the people (many of them quite driven and some rather loony) with whom she worked as an editor for Andre Deutsch in London for 50 years. In Stet, Athill tells their stories. And, as befits a professional editor, she tells them with wonderful clarity and fluidity.
   
   As Athill's sublime writing carries us along through her work and travels, we learn about London during and after World War II, about the evolution of the publishing business and relationships between writers and editors, about the lives and idiosyncrasies of writers famous and not so famous, and, surprisingly, about the poor and wildly beautiful island of Dominica. All these stories are leavened with Athill's lucid reflections on work, sexuality, feminism, social mores and peccadilloes, and religion and spirituality.



2. Diana Athill is a superb editor and it shows in the quality of her own writing. She is straightforward, and writes about her experiences in the publishing trade over fifty years without frills or purple passages. For those interested in the world of writers, their books and how they got to market, her thoughts distilled from years of experience opinions leap off the page. As a bonus, she lists a small number of out-of-print books that are favourites of hers and that she thinks her readers might like to read. "Stet" is a glimpse of a largely vanished literary London. I liked it.



3. Anyone who has ever worked in newspapers or publishing will be familiar with `stet', an age-old editor's term for `let it stand', meaning disregard any and all changes.

   This is an apt title for a memoir from one of London's best known and highly regarded editors, Dianna Athill, who spent 50 years massaging the words and assisting in the careers of many literary powerhouses, including V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Mordecai Richler as well as America's Norman Mailer, John Updike and John Kenneth Galbraith.

   These feats are worth trumpeting but Athill, now in her 80s, chronicles her working life in an alluring, understated fashion: "All this book is, is the story of an old ex-editor who imagines that she will feel a little less dead if a few people read it."

   `Stet: an editor's life' does a lot more than that. It gives writers and readers a fresh insight into the challenges of publishing as well as the trade's peaks and troughs throughout the latter half of the 20th century, before the conglomerates dominated.

   Athill founded with Andre Deutsch a publishing house in the early 1950s which bore his name. Despite its small size and meagre means, the house and Athill's reputation gained a great deal of attention in England, not only for the calibre of writers they attracted, but their publishing approach. One of the most controversial incidents occurred early on when the publishing house was presented with an injunction against publishing Norman Mailer's first book, `The Naked and the Dead' because of its profane language.

   Athill covers this and many other anecdotes about writers and the writing life in a rich, honest manner.

   `Stet' will interest writers as well as avid readers. It gives them a new look at the old days of publishing, a time when dollars didn't rule over good literature.

   -- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com




4. A fascinating look into old-world publishing and life in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. I really enjoyed all of the wonderful characters and details about the editorial process. Anthill, herself, is an engaging and enjoyable character!



5. Reading Stet is like taking a seminar in the art and craft of editing and then being invited to tea with the professor afterward. While reading it, I remembered that the relationships most responsible for shaping my professional life were those I enjoyed with professors who made themselves available outside of the classroom or office. I was particularly lucky over the course of college and graduate school to enjoy the company of three wise, interesting, experienced scholars who had spent what amounted to a whole lifetime in the "real world" before beginning their academic careers. That Athill's finely crafted memoir reminded me of my debt to Dr. A-, Mr. R-, and Mrs. S- is the highest recommendation I can give.

   Consider this gem:

   "[A]n editor must never expect thanks (sometimes they come, but them must always be seen as a bonus). We must always remember that we are only midwives - if we want praise for progeny we must give birth to our own."

   Or this (she is writing about the shrinking population of critical readers):

   "Of course a lot of them still read; but progressively a smaller lot, and fewer and fewer can be bothered to dig into a book that offers any resistance. Although these people may seem stupid to us, they are no stupider than we are: they just enjoy different things."

   Whether you edit church bulletin or your city's daily, whether you answer phones at a small press in the hopes of moving up or you cull gems from the slush pile, don't miss Athill's attempt to prevent her experience from being erased with her passing.

5 comments about Front Row at the White House : My Life and Times.

1. Helen Thomas is beautiful in every way. Her writing ability is incredible, her life in the front row at the White House was brilliant. Her honesty, brilliance and passion is to be valued and respected by everybody. An amazing read, you won't share this book even with your best friend, just in case you never get it back. It's a book that you can read over and over again and still learn more. Thanks Helen, hopefully people are inspired to follow their dreams as you have done. Thanks Amazon, I couldn't get it here in Australia, you came through for me again.



2. I respect Helen Thomas for her fearlessness, tenacity, and the fact that she broke so much ground as a woman in the WH Press Corp. However, as other reviewers have noted, this book didn't have the bite of her questions at a press conference.
   
   I'm glad I read this book - parts were very interesting. Her insights into individual Presidents and First Ladies, the way they viewed the press, and the insidious transition from communications to spin and handling. She also takes the press to task for buying into this.
   
   The book is kinda wonky, and if you aren't a press junky, it wouldn't mean much. I didn't know there was so much to know about Air Force One - and even after reading it, was numb.
   
   Reading this book made me think that I had Helen Thomas at a loooong Saturday afternoon brunch, and she had begun holding forth. Fascinating premise. But after a while, you'd want a break - take a walk, see if they brought out more shrimp, maybe check the Blackberry. After a while (or maybe 30 pages), it would be irresistable to go back and see what she was saying now. You'd be rivited for a while, then your eyes would start to glaze over, and it's time to see if they have FINALLY brought out more shrimp. After everyone has had three glasses of wine, you're in a mellower mood to listen, and she's in a crazier mood to talk, so it all works out just fine.



3. I never noticed Thomas much until I saw her bit on Steven Colbert's famous slap in Bush's face at the White House Pres Corps dinner. I started reading more about her and listened to her on many different shows. I respect her a great deal, so was very interested in this book.
   
   Much of it is about her. Too much really. There is also way too much name dropping as well as anecdotes about her and her cronnies that were frankly rather boring. She aslo is rather contradictory. She prides herself on her journalistic integrity but doesn't understand why someone like Lady Bird would have been furious over her leaks about her daughters. She makes a big deal of her front row seat and on the many compliments and accolades that the various presidents bestowed on her. Such things got in the way of what really was an excellent look at the administrations that she worked with.
   
   However, it was in her chapters on Marha Mitchell, and the first ladies, that really make this book a gem. The former esp - we were always told by the administration that she was insane. She wasn't - she was speaking the truth about watergate, and no one wanted to listen. And for the most part does a good job outlining each administration's successes and faults.
   
   However, She was also far from being unbiased. Kennedy was the only democratic president who she had good things to say about. To hear her talk, Clinton's lies were much worse than Watergate or Contragate. She pretty much gave Nixon and Reagan a free pass, but spent pages ranting about Clinton. I don't expect someone working so long to not have opinions but for heavens sake try to put things into perspective.
   
   Since this book was written just at the end of Clinton's term, and since I know that her opinion of Bush Jr is less than stellar, I'd be interested in reading her more current book which talks about his administration. I wonder if she now sees Clinton with perhaps less myopic eyes?



4. I liked doing business with them. The book came in very good packaging. I plan on doing more business with them in the future. Keep up the good work!!!



5. If you've ever wondered about the woman who for years asked the first question at presidential news conferences and also ended each one, then this memoir will be entertaining. Thomas had a long career and got to know every president since JFK pretty well, or so you'd think from this book which is chock full of interesting anecdotes and opinions. It is a bit repetitious and would have benefited mightily from tighter editing. One wonders if the publisher was a little too reverential to use the red pencil. Somewhere along the line, UPI, her employer, lost a lot of its power and impact, due to business turmoil. Still, Thomas soldiered on. She doesn't say much about UPI in the memoir, probably because she's still working, though for Hearst. If you follow the journalism biz, you'll want to read this one.

5 comments about Finding My Voice.

1. Already a fan of The Diane Rhem show, I found her book to be interesting and I was amazed to learn that
   this talented interviewer began with a part-time job
   taken after her kids no longer needed close care. Her natural sense of fairness in conducting interviews is apparent. Listening to her show on NPR is part of my daily routine, and I find I enjoy it even more after reading her book.



2. Diane Rehm has had a fascinating life and has a great writing style. Very enjoyable.



3. I had no idea about how much she went through in her younger years and her unexpected (untrained, etc) career in radio. I found every detail interesting, but I am a fan of her radio show.
   
   She talks about her Arab roots, rough family life, voice problems (which everyone wonders about), journey from SAHM to radio star and much more.



4. Diane Rehm is full of herself. During her long career at WAMU, she managed to amass so much power that she raised the money to make her own show national then she was able to hire her own boss, the former president of WAMU who turned out to be a disaster for the station and was forced to resign in disgrace. Now that we are celebrating her 30 year anniversary on the air, it would be a good time for her to resign. The station refers to her medical condition and wretched voice as a "disability". A radio host with Spasmodic Dysphonia is like a blind taxi driver.



5. interesting to put a background to a radio host that I have listened to for years.

5 comments about Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown.

1. I saw this book sitting on the library shelf and then memories flooded back: the first few issues of Cosmo were so controversial. We'd hear people say, "Nobody in New York reads Cosmo; it's just a fantasy for young women in the boonies." I remember when we had the big discussion about the Cosmo centerfold. Now it's like, "Who cares?"
   
   The book jacket identifies Jennifer Scanlon as a women's studies professor, so it's not surprising to find meticulously referenced details of every aspect of Helen Gurley Brown's life. For ordinary readers, these details will be way too much. I got bogged down in the background of Helen's childhood.
   
   A major premise behind this book is that Helen Gurley Brown deserves attention as part of the history of women, at least in the US. Yet it's hard to see her in the same realm as, say Gloria Steinem. Steinem created her own role in the women's movement; Helen Gurley Brown held a job. The debate between the two now seems quaint and irrelevant. I wasn't even aware that it was going on at the time.
   
   What comes through most is Helen's drive and ambition. She had a true "whatever it takes" attitude, even when the "whatever" croosed the line for many women. In the end, the real story seems less about her contribution to feminism than about how she managed to go from a hardscdrabble Arkansas background to a glittering New York professional career.



2. "Bad Girls Go Everywhere" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Scanlon's book interview ran here as cover feature on May 29, 2009.



3. Helen Gurley Brown is a gal of my generation. Jennifer Scanlon has written a comprehensive bio that is much like a thesis, not so juicy, but well-researched. Most Interesting to me was the fact that, despite HGB's proclivity to speak provocatively and advocate free sexual behavior, she was dying to get married and made' being married' her personal (as opposed to professional) life's work. I found her rather sad, maybe caught between the perfect wife of the '50's and the more self-reliant young woman of today that she presented so vividly in her blockbuster, Sex And the Single Girl. There's much to admire in her stance and the issues she championed. Just wish her life had been happeir and richer in personal relationships.



4. Having worked in the magazine industry, I find HGB fascinating. This book, however, wasn't for me. I don't want to take away from the author's accomplishment; judging by the number of end notes, the author read every shred of information saved in HGB's papers. The book reads like a thesis on HGB's contribution to the women's movement and how she was the original Candace Bushnell/"Sex in the City" woman. I was hoping for something more about her as a person and magazine legend and how she got from point A to point B.



5. I was an avid reader of Cosmopolitan magazine in college and have read most of Helen Gurley Brown's books, so I was delighted to find that there was finally a biography of this interesting woman. I found the book uneven reading, though. Instead of being a straight biography, parts of the book read like a textbook, attempting to relate Brown's beliefs to the feminist movement, and comparing and contrasting her ideas with those of other feminists like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Analysis of her stands on working women, abortion, birth control, sexism, and other feminist issues seem to occupy an inordinate amount of space in the book and, to me, come across as somewhat dry and uninteresting compared to the straight biographical sections, which I found very absorbing. The author is, according to the book jacket, a professor of gender and women's studies, so it is easy to see where her interest lies. There are very few photos included in the book--I would like to have seen more. Worthwhile reading for fans of Helen Gurley Brown.

5 comments about Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success.

1. Chris Matthews is great! I love his show and I love his book! Fun to read advice.



2. I expected more from Chris Matthews. I think this is a light-weight book written for fast money. I would NOT recommend wasting your money.



3. Easy to read and great ideas on bottom line ways of increasing ones chances for a successful career and also a happier life in general.



4. Chris uses his life story to explain how the American system works, he is not judgmental, he just states the reality. HE lays out the rules of the road, many recent immigrants to the US should read this book - it will make the "Who send you question" more understandable and less intimidating! Have a plan, learn the rules, follow the rules and you win big! Chris Mathews is a living example, coming to Washington from a stay in Africa, he knew the rules but nobody, he hard his plan within the rules and executed perfectly!



5. Chris tells it the way he sees it - a competitive world where hard work and persistent effort are necessary ingredients for success.

5 comments about Almost a Woman.

1. Almost a Woman is a beautifully detailed memoir written by Esmeralda Santiago. In this book she writes of events that occur between her fourteenth and twenty second years, just after she, along with her mother and siblings, moves from a rural town in Puerto Rico to her grandmother's tiny apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Santiago describes her struggles and triumphs in adjusting to a new lifestyle in the United States, embracing her culture, and maturing into the woman she wishes to be.
   I really enjoyed this book. Santiago writes in honest detail about the adventures she has in attempt to become independent from her restricting, "old-fashioned" mother and performing in theaters of Manhattan. Most entertaining are her accounts of unique relationships with various men. I didn't know whether to laugh or to remain in shock as Santiago recalled such things as, "he was thirty-seven, the same age as Mami, seventeen years older than me," or, "it hit me that I was about to marry a man who stole planes for a living." The events are amazingly unpredictable and quite engaging. Only the clarity and specification of her words reminded me that I was not reading an imaginative, fictional story, but rather the true and eventful life of quite a remarkable woman!
   I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand the challenges of moving from one very different environment and country to another, while embarking on the journey into adulthood. This memoir will not fail to entertain, as well as teach the reader many important life lessons.



2. Wow.. I thought I had a strict upbringing.. Esmeralda's takes the cake. This memoir picks up where "When I Was Puerto Rican" stops (well, the first chapter or 2 basically repeats the end of the first book for those that did not read it) and covers her teenage years. She had a mother that bore eleven children and never married, but was apparently so concerned that her daughter not follow her example, she did not let Esmeralda date and kept her on a very short leash. Esmeralda finds ways around it tho like any spunky rebellious teenager. I found parts of it engrossing. I felt embarassed with her during the retelling of her Mami showing up at a party simply because she forgot to call. However, I did not find this one as humorous as "When I Was Puerto Rican". I also do not care to read an entire novel about the Turkish guy she meets at the end, which the next novel covers. Basically what I am trying to say, is that unlike "When I Was Puerto Rican," this memoir, although good, does not make me want to keep reading. However, I am going to read the next one just to find out if Esmeralda ever asked her mother "Mami, why do you not use birth control?" I am dying for the answer at this point.



3. Esmeralda Santiago was born in Puerto Rico, and spent her early years there. Her mother moved with her children to New York City (Brooklyn) to start a new life, hoping for newer and greater opportunities after various setbacks in the Caribbean island. Esmeralda tells the story of her beginnings in New York, her struggle to learn English, to cope with the school system, to cope with a new culture and to deal with gangs and crime. The book portrays a strong and proud mother who struggles to maintain her family in the midst of poverty, and who despite an already large family keeps adding to it. The author, in a sort of painful honesty, describes her own passage through adolescence which includes her efforts to earn money,have friends, pursue drama, date and form relationships with men. The one relationship in particular is rather unusual and interesting and I won't spoil the pleasure of reading it for the first time by providing more details. Nor will I spoil her most heroic moment of triumph in the book, a moment which truly leaves one gasping in awe. All in all this is quite a moving and interesting book, written simply and directly but with passion and power.



4. Her life is not easy, but she has made the best of it growing to be an excellent human being, a great writter and an inspiration on success if your really try and have specific goals. Like her books. She is Puerto Rican to the bone.



5. I read this for my Latino Writing class. Other than that I was bored througout the whole book. The only times I really enjoyed this story were when we discussed this in class.

5 comments about American Radical: The Life and Times of I. F. Stone.

1. I.F. Stone has already received at least three other extensive studies, but this is the most comprehensive and detailed social history and biography of Stone.It is I. F. Stone as a radical voice of dissent that is the real subject of this fine biography. Stone emerges as a man of all seasons. Guttenplan refers to Stone's "transit from pariah to a national institution" and frequently sees him as an outsider, but when he traces Stone's life and lists his vast array of important friends and supporters in high places , he appears not as a marginal figure but at the very center of this nation's 20th century history.
   
   These comments are taken for a review I have written for New Politics:A Journal of Socialisst Thought. It is scheduled to appear in its forthcoming issue.



2. From an early age, I. F. Stone had an instinctive empathy for "the little guy," and was similarly clear that when he came to have a vocation, he would be a journalist. During his long career, he was a critic of institutional racism, an advocate for support of Republican Spain's antifascist struggle, a prowar voice at a time when America still held itself aloof from the global war then raging, and later an enthusiastic Zionist...who never failed to urge Jews to recognize and heal the wound of Palestinian expulsion from their own, historic homelands.
   
   He was "an American original," one with an eye for the overlooked story and details banished to back pages. His views were critical, left, but never tied to any political party's "line." He was briefly a member of the Socialist Party, largely due to his admiration for Norman Thomas, and later, he supported the Wallace campaign on the Progressive Party ticket. He was first an outsider during the Popular Front time of Depression-era America, and later, a New Deal insider. When Truman introduced the initial, draconian steps to punish Americans for their views and associations, he became one of the "unpersons" who struggled to find livelihood in the witch-hunt atmosphere costing people jobs, family ties, and sometimes, their lives.
   
   It was during this latter period that he founded his newsletter-format publication, I. F. Stone's Weekly. It is through this publication that he came to have his greatest journalistic reputation for exposing lies, especially those of government, and most notably those that covered or attempted to cover up military aggression and subversion of foreign governments. His farseeing view of early events as the US became involved in Vietnam, ultimately proved him almost clairvoyant in his prediction of both massive involvement and ultimate catastrophe in Southeast Asia.
   
   Perhaps it was this ability to see the facts and to not fall prey to the siren call of official lies, that marked "Izzy" Stone's career, as much as any other single characteristic. As well as being known for his muckraking style, he also authored seven books, the final one a review of the famous trial of Socrates--from which he took the title of his volume. In addition to journalism and his authorial accomplishments, he gave many speeches across an expanse of eras, being especially called upon during the period of the teach-ins and mass demonstrations against the US war in Vietnam and across that part of the world.
   
   He lived long enough to go from being an outcast to becoming a "character." While it is satisfying to see that he was--unlike too many of those he knew and tried to defend during the McCarthy era--able to escape the fate of immiseration, imprisonment, or worse, it is regrettable that he has been sugar-coated as just another colorful writer. He was always a committed activist, albeit one who carried a pen rather than a sign. He allied himself with those who longed for justice, and never failed to lend his voice to that end.



3. This biography requires a lot of patience. It is a big book, and asks you to go through an incredibly long lineage of people, places, and events that wrapped around the life of the most iconic reporter of the twentieth century. Guttenplan is very neutral about most aspects of Stone's life, especially during the HUAC/Joseph McCarthy period where although ostracized for being thought a Soviet agent of some kind, Stone was given a relative pass by the FBI. They followed him around but did not destroy him as they did so many others at the time.
   
   In this book, Izzy Stone is depicted as a true one-of-a-kind; a bespectacled warrior who fought for truth and justice the old fashioned way.
   
   You really have to admire someone who doesn't resemble any current celebrity journalist, devoid of the now ubiquitous mass polarizing narcissism and self love that we can't escape.



4. Well-written biographies are wonderful ways to learn and have a good read. You read without feeling as though you're slogging through a book you have to read for edification, as opposed to entertainment. American Radical is a great read -- on many levels. It works as a story (which we all love), as social history (important for all Americans) and political discourse (crucial, especially in these times). It's a real story, but since it's a true story, it is frankly far more interesting and worthwhile than many novels. Thankfully, the writing is as engaging as a good novel.
   
   Today we are living in strange times -- our(my) tax dollars, as a decidedly middle class person, are being given out in billion dollar bailouts to wealthy firms and used for billion dollar bonuses for already wealthy people. Huh? Those who created the problems in the economy causing true hardship by many are getting rewarded? What happened to the market discipline and supposed utmost fairness of capitalism, that is you do well, you get rewarded, you fail in the marketplace, you lose? These days the rich who got amply rewarded for what is now clear were unethical if not illegal business practices are being amply rewarded again... This book reminds us of how important it is to draw attention to these issues.
   
   IF Stone's biography by D.D. Guttenplan shines the light on not only the journalist's life, but his times, which are like our times.
   
   The other aspect that makes this a must read is the near death experience we're seeing for journalism. Without my local paper, the Boston Globe, the Catholic Church sex abuse story/tragedy/scandal likely would never have come to light. Likewise the abuses in our state government pension system. Yet today many local papers are almost bankrupt. I shudder to think what would happen if journalism, as practiced by people like I F Stone, died. The fourth estate is essential for democracy. Reading this book is not only enjoyable, it is important for anyone who wants to think about and understand how critical journalism is to our way of life.
   
   Buy it, read it, act on the lessons.



5. Guttenplan, like most of the left is smitten with Stone's left-wing politics more than his journalism. Stone missed and ignored the biggest stories of the last century because he was so ideologically wedded to marxism. I doubt he ever really realized that people who thought they were fighting for Socialism, such as, well, himself, were really fighting for gutter Russian nationalism. He knew nothing about economics and under-estimated the resilience and strength of capitalism. Every third world revolutionary movement from Cuba to Vietnam to China was going to show the west that socialism could put on a kinder more gentile face and when they inevitably failed to live up to this standard, it was primarily the fault of the United States.
   
   Arguable Stone's biggest scoop was the "Gulf of Tonkin, but this too was more an extension of his politics rather than any journalistic skill he had. Stone couldn't prove that the Gulf of Tonkin was a "set up" but went to press with the story any way based on his instincts. Turns out he was right, but this same "blame the West first" mentality that afflicted Stone also caused him to report, quite erroneously, that South Korea had "provoked" war with the North by invading them firs, with US backing naturally. Following the same mentality, Stone declared that the Tet offensive was a decisive strategic military victory for Hanoi.
   
   Charges that Stone was a covert Soviet agent are documentable and fully supported, this is no longer the realm of speculation. Stone knew who he was dealing with, that is he was fully aware that the Soviet individuals he was communicating with were covert KGB agents. He consciously cooperated with Soviet intelligence for several years after some of their most horrid atrocities had been made public. Guttenplan's inability to come come to this conclusion turns what could have been a fair biography into more left wing hero worship.

5 comments about Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War.

1. It's been awhile since I remember reading a Bob Greene column, and my memory was that they were charming and well-written. Not this book. It is padded, repetitive and remarkably dull a lot of the time given the subject matter that should be full of opportunity for a skilled journalist. Other reviewers here have put it best when they said the book is really a magazine article stretched too far. Greene has an interesting concept--weaving in his own father's life, war service and death with the story of Paul Tibbets, of Enola Gay fame. But he never comes close to making it work most of the time. For instance, he seems to quote everything Tibbets says, no matter how mundane. It's rather amazing that he barely dips more than toe deep into the man's life before, during or after Enola Gay. In the end, Tibbets just comes across as a slightly cranky uncle who you really don't want to see except at the holidays. In the same way, Greene's dad seems to be a complex man--and at times Greene taps into that. More often than not, his dad's recorded statements are better written than his son's writing.



2. We received the book very timely. And it is a great read. I would recommend it to anyone.



3. This was absolutely a wonderful read. The author, through the time he spent with his dying father AND the time he spent with Paul Tibbets, brings to the reader two remarkable stories in one. It is a great book historically, and , I think, enables some of us to understand our own WWII fathers better. In any case, you will love this one!



4. Great book, I have grown to really like Bob Greene. I have bought many of his books and and reading them as fast as I can. This book brings the people who fought WWII for us and why they did it and makes them real. I am learning to really appreciate their sacrifices.



5. This is a good work. As one disgruntled reviewer pointed out, this is not a history book, but rather a memoir and tribute from a son to his father and to one of the many heros of WWII. Having been raised by a father from that era, it is quite apparent to me that my relationship with my father was my no means isolated, but somewhat the norm. This work struck pretty close to home. Having spent over twenty years in the military myself, I can understand some of their thoughts, but even that cannot bridge the entire gap. Those guys looked at life differently than my generation. The author has approached the subject with great sensitivity and through his conversations with these men, I feel, has been able to understand not only them, but himself. I highly recommend this one to any father and any son. Well done Mr Greene.