Walter cronkite biography reviews of fifty

Instead, he opened his tenure as anchor perched awkwardly on a typewriter table. Without Evening NewsCronkite mostly disappeared from public view. Brinkley points the finger at CBS for its shabby treatment that kept the icon out of Election Night coverage, most breaking news and generally off Evening News evidently under pressure from an insecure Rather as a major reason for his low profile and an ongoing source of frustration for Cronkite.

Only in retirement does Brinkley flesh out the private Cronkite, especially his growing political activism on everything from the environment to marijuana. Thompson and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. I'll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good Night. Brinkley has provided a very thorough narrative of Cronkite's life, but he does pick and choose on the dicey bits.

WC was known to be sensitive and have issues with some of the journalists he worked with. Brinkley acknowledges but doesn't explore or go further - and frankly, I didn't mind. It's not my area of interest and my indifference might be replaced with a deeper curiosity if that interest leaned in different directions. Walter Cronkite was a family member to me in a way.

Walter cronkite biography reviews of fifty: Summary: The biography of

My own children and grands? Sadly there is no one even slightly like WC in their lives. No one voice helping to focus the world's daily happenings into an evening together in the living room. Their lives are informed by a million voices from the apps on their phones in their hands in their rooms or wherever they are. We learn of things immediately rather than at the usual TV news time or news breaking headlines in emergencies.

The many voices dilute, shatter and disseminate messages that may or may not be true. Brinkley is America's Historian and certainly has the resources to get us both the overall story and the inside scoop. The book is full of fascinating info on Walter Cronkite from archival sources and the subject's family, professional associates, and friends.

It is worth reading for the information it provides about Uncle Walter's life and his opinions about newsmakers and the news. But beware: this is not the quality of book one ever would expect to have been produced by a professional historian and writer, especially one with Brinkley's reputation. It is jarring and disappointing to think that Brinkley; his publisher; his associates; and Cronkite's family and influential admirers would let this extraordinarily sloppy book be published in its current state.

Brinkley and his publisher have made a terrible mistake by releasing this book prematurely. That respected reviewers lead the book-buying public to believe the book is ready for prime time is an insult to both Cronkite and the reader. This book is the most poorly edited biography I ever have read. It smacks of having been thrown together to meet a deadline.

Writing is sloppy eg, "No television correspondent had covered civil rights or went after Nixon with more doggedness. Nonsensical assertions abound eg, "Cronkite's death was a national embarrassment because of how badly TV journalism had fared in his absence. Non-sequitors are littered throughout eg, "With an extra-high regard for scientists and professors, he visited the far reaches of the planet, trying to learn about the historic world Wording is sometimes nonsensical "and a colorful look at Mars photographs taken by Viking spacecraft in the s".

Extraneous information unnecessarily diverts the reader eg, "To Amanpour, just back in New York from Afghanistan [where she filmed the documentary Generation Islam about the lives of young Muslims]. Cronkite's life wasn't about anchoring the CBS News Until and unless it gets one, I give it an F for publication quality. Jay Connor. In college, I remember nightly finishing my dining hall meal and running off to the media room of the Dahlgren Memorial Library to get my headset and watch the CBS Evening News.

Cronkite only just passed away in For it is through this subject — the television anchorman — that Brinkley gains the unique lens of a medium at its height to reflect a history ever changed by its presence. But when he left, they rose. George said, "They didn't applaud, they just stood up, because that's what you do when a gentleman is leaving the room.

It was difficult to finish because the final pages meant saying goodbye not only to him, an extraordinary individual, but to an entire way of seeing and reporting on the world that is so rare non-existent?

Walter cronkite biography reviews of fifty: Customers find the book informative and

Cronkite was admired - revered — for his deep integrity and discipline in reporting the news — but also for his joyous enthusiasm for life and storytelling. He believed in facts, in witnessing events and reporting faithfully on what he discovered. He guided the country through its soaring achievements - men landing on moon - and heartbreak; Kennedy assassination, Vietnam War it was his decision - after visiting Vietnam during the Tet Offensive - to report that the war was best a "stalemate," that is credited with turning the anti-war movement mainstream.

Read this book if you are a fan of journalism, if you want to understand why we were lucky to have Edward R. Murrow for the first half of the 20th century and Cronkite for the second. Read it for a thrilling sweep of twentieth century history or for a chronicle of a lost world, where newsmen okay, and it was male-dominated, but Cronkite was not a chauvinist smoked and drank and worked all hours to get the story.

Imagine television reporters not rushing to be first without double-sourcing the facts. Cronkite wouldn't report on Kennedy's death until he got confirmation from the hospital in Dallas. He invited us to believe in him and he never let us down. Drew Zagorski. I was initially attracted to this bio because I love reading history thanks to my 8th grade teacher, one of the best ever Pat Cahill!

So I was fascinated by the thought of all the history Cronkite was witness to. As I read the reader reviews on various sites, there were many that were very critical with comment about all the typos in the book to the complaint that the author made Cronkite out to be an alcoholic, to only offering scant details on the historical events covered in the book.

Well, I don't know what those readers were talking about or where they were coming from. There were some typos, but no more than I see in any other books.

Walter cronkite biography reviews of fifty: Walter Leland Cronkite Jr.

Cronkite came from a generation that enjoyed an evening cocktail, and while the book did touch on some episodes where he went on a bender with a colleague, there were literally only a couple of them. He was never presented as an alcoholic in my reading of the story - I mean if I was meeting up with a friend in London, I'd probably go on a pub crawl too.

And the limited details on the events he covered - it the author did provide deep details about all of them the book would be a 4 volume 10, page behemoth. I found this bio extremely readable, entertaining and, I believe, very balanced in it's presentation of the man. Cronkite had an ego, he was human - not a god, and he had some quirks.

It was an excellent read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history or Walter Cronkite. Sherry Sharpnack. This is a fat biography about the pioneering broadcasting icon, Walter Cronkite, written by Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University. Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Missouri; spent his young childhood in Kansas City; then went to high school in Houston, and two years of college at the University of Texas.

His grandfather was a pharmacist in St. Joe and his Dad was in the business as well. Score on all three! In one job back home in KC, he met a newspaper woman named Betsy, who had attended the quite-new journalism school at the University of Missouri. They married, and Betsy was every bit as funny, smart, witty and talented as Walter.

Reading about the early years in television was my favorite part of the book. The broadcasters just read the news off the wires back then, not really packaging the news at all. His respect for the military colored his first several years of reporting on Vietnam, also. Other networks and the fledgling cable networks treated them better. Betsy died inand mere weeks later, Cronkite started dating their realtor, Joanna Simon, 24 years his junior.

Anyway, Cronkite died in and the final chapter about his cognitive issues, his death, and funeral were sad and touching. Again, I enjoyed the book but have to knock the biography as poorly edited with more editorializing and bias than normal in a typical biography. Author 2 books 35 followers. Journalism as an idea is something that I believe many people, given the current political situation, agree with in the abstract sense and that non-specific ideal can usually be tied back to Walter Cronkite.

As journalist the man managed to secure an ideal status in the American consciousness because the man always made sure to stick to the facts and only editorialize when he felt it was truly necessary. Cronkite is an icon and this book captures that spirit. Now I can't speak to the full structure of the book because I read it through an audio-book that I found out halfway through was abridged.

Still it covered almost all of the text and the writing was always balanced with a careful attention to real facts and little, if any, real pathos. The only real problem I had with the text is that the book focused so much on the man's career and didn't always balance it out with much of the man's personal life, or really his relationship with his wife Betsy who, after reading this book, deserves an entire book for herself.

No matter the reader is promised a fine read because Douglas Brinkley shines in this book and reminders the reader why he is highly regarded as a historian and biographer. Brinkley gives the reader the facts, but manages to humanize Walter showing them his faults, his walters cronkite biography reviews of fifty, his passions, and ends with a final summation of the man and his lasting impact upon the culture.

I didn't grow up with Cronkite, though as a kid I did watch repeatedly the film "We're Back" which starred his voice so I guess in a way I did. But even if I never watched the man report about the Kennedy assassination, or listen to him narrate the NASA programs that got us to the moon, and even if I never got a chance to hear his now canonical report "We Are Mired in Stalemate" I still recognise the importance of the idea and man of Walter Cronkite.

The news when it's done right matters because it gives people facts from which they can decide how to act, and in the absence of trust the reporter ultimately has nothing. Cronkite's strength was always that people trusted him and for this reason Cronkite lives on as a figure that is iconic, but for all the right reasons. As described late in this book, inTed Koppel gave an informal talk to young interns hoping to become news broadcasters.

Koppel asked, did they knew anything about Eric Sevaried? Howard K. Frank Reynolds?

Walter cronkite biography reviews of fifty: Cronkite was “the most significant

Chet Huntley? Type your email…. Continue reading. Search for:. Like this: Like Loading A great story, there, over the decades. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Discover more from Bob on Books Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive. Type your email… Subscribe. A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day — and the best features from TheWeek.

In the Spotlight Are individuals the ones responsible for starting or worsening the blazes in Los Angeles? Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day. The Explainer Spending limits might not be the answer that smaller market teams are looking for. By David Faris Published 27 January The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

Visit our corporate site.