Synopsis
After 60 years as a journalist covering major events in America's history, Walter Cronkite reflects on his incredible life and career. Cronkite's belief in quality television serves as a refreshing contrast to the declining value of the medium in the latter part of the 20th century.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-11-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 384 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 6.8 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 27.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
From the age of six, when he went dashing down a hill to spread the news of President Harding's death through his Kansas City neighborhood, Walter Cronkite's vocation was unmistakable. Now, at the age of eighty, Cronkite has written his life story - the personal and professional odyssey of the original "anchorman", for whom that very word was coined. As a witness to the crucial events of this century - first for the Houston Press, then for the United Press wire service and finally for CBS in the fledgling medium of television - Cronkite has set a standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion and in sight that would be difficult to surpass. He is an overflowing vessel of history, a direct link with the people and places that have defined our nation and established its unique role in the world.
He has been called the most trusted man in America. His 60-year-long journalistic career has spanned the Great Depression, several wars, and the extraordinary changes that have engulfed our nation over the last two-thirds of the 20th century. When Walter Cronkite advised his television audience in 1968 that the war in Vietnam could not be won, President Lyndon B. Johnson said: "If Ive lost Cronkite, Ive lost middle America. "Now, at the age of eighty, Cronkite has written his life story--the personal and professional odyssey of the original "anchorman" for whom that very word was coined. As a witness to the crucial events of this century--first for the Houston Press, then for the United Press wire service, and finally for CBS in the fledgling medium of television--Cronkite set a standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion, and insight that is difficult to surpass. He is an overflowing vessel of history, and a direct link with the people and places that have defined our nation and established its unique role in the world.But Walter Cronkite is also the man who loved to drive race cars "for the same reason that others do exhibitionist, dangerous stunts. It sets us apart from the average man; puts us, in our own minds, on a level just a little above the chap who doesnt race." He is also the man whose "softheartedness knows no rational bounds" and who always had "great problems at the theater, tearing up at the slightest offense against animals and people, notably the very old or the very young." He is the man who could barely refrain from spitting on the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials, and who could barely announce President Kennedys assassination over the air for the sobs in his throat.Walter Cronkite helped launch the juggernaut of television, and tried to imbue it with his own respect for quality and ethics; but now he occupies a ringside seat during the decline of his profession and the ascent of the lowest common denominator. As he aptly observes, "Theyd rewrite Exodus to include a car chase." Still, the American people know the difference. They know that for decades they have had the privilege of getting their news from a gentleman of the highest caliber. And they will immensely enjoy A Reporter's Life.
Industry Reviews
"He proudly describes how he earned his spurs in print, with service on newspapers in Houston and Kansas City, Mo., and with United Press International. His most vivid writing involves his apprenticeship in city rooms and his coverage of combat during World War II. Those stories benefit form a memory still infused with the enthusiasm of a young man learning his craft while immersed in the defining events of his generation."
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Warren Olney (01/12/1997)
"['A Reporter's Life' is] the story of a modest man who succeeded extravagantly by remaining mostly himself--succeeded in a demanding new medium, itself part of an exploding technology that made the world more complex...And not unlike journalism itself, his memoir is a short course on the flow of events in the second half of this century--events the world knows more about because of Walter Cronkite's work, and some of which might not have happened without it."
New York Times Book Review - Tom Wicker (01/26/1997)
"...part schoolboy chronicle of a life spent in zealous, single-minded pursuit of breaking news, part state memoir of a journalistic bigfoot."
Yardley
"Cronkite bears out our trust in him as he bears wise witness to our collective adventures of the past half-century; he endears himself anew when he good-humoredly shares his own."
Yardley
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