An adulation of Murrow, ``the founding saint of broadcast news and the best-ever practitioner of it, [who] also set standards for excellence and courage that remain the standards the world over.'' Born into a hardworking family, Murrow took a speech course from Ida Lou Anderson that changed his life, drilling into him all the ``skills he would need to become a confident and effective speaker.'' Murrow found his way to CBS after college and for seven years, via his London-based radio show, broadcast to the US ``what it was like to live in a country at war,'' emphasizing British resolve and resilience. Finkelstein (Thirteen Days, Ninety Miles, 1994, etc.) is unmistakable in his own conviction: ``Day after day, Murrow's broadcasts did more to turn American public opinion in favor of Britain and American involvement in the fight for freedom than all the formal diplomacy.'' It's also clear from this account that Murrow helped bring McCarthyism down: ``We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.'' Finkelstein is one-sided and laudatory, omitting any mention of Murrow's human frailties (e.g., his alleged affair with Pamela Harriman in London), but sincere in his belief that this broadcast visionary is a hero; readers will be convinced. (b&w photos, bibliography, notes, index) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: April 14, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-67891-9
Page Count: 175
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1997
After years of normal living, a teenager learns he has epilepsy and has to cope not just with the disease, but with the side effects, including the hostility of his peers. High schooler Lefty has an epileptic seizure while hanging out with his best friend, Reuben, and must subsequently learn to live with the disease, deal with medication, make lifestyle changes, overcome his own fear, as well as that of family and friends, and face his peers. What little action there is in this marathon talkfest concerns Lefty and his friends (including his 12-year-old brother) smoking and drinking. In his tough, working-class neighborhood this is considered perfectly normal, and the author never counters that. Most of readers’ efforts may be spent trying to keep track of the many characters: Lefty’s friends and brothers, his mother’s tough-as-nails girlfriends, neighbors, classmates, medical personnel, etc. When Lefty, a budding writer, pens an imaginary dialogue between two elderly neighbors and a would-be mugger, the story picks up; otherwise this is a flat and emotionally distant bull session that, though extended, leads nowhere. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2000
ISBN: 1-55143-166-1
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
With an emphasis on Western “makers” of the millennium, and, perhaps inevitably, deep coverage of the last 200 years and fleeting coverage of the first few centuries, this volume offers brief biographical sketches of 1,000 people who had an impact on the last 1,000 years. Profusely illustrated and printed on heavy glossy stock, this is a coffee table book for children, meant to be dipped into rather than read from start to finish. Organized chronologically, with a chapter for each century, the parade of people is given context through a timeline of major events, with those of particular importance discussed in special boxes. As with any effort of this kind, there are surprising omissions (the publisher is creating a website for readers’ own suggestions) and inclusions, a Western predominance that grows more pronounced in the later centuries, and an emphasis on sports and celebrity that finishes off the last few decades. The selection can seem highly subjective and provocatively arbitrary, e.g., the US presidents from Nixon back to Teddy Roosevelt are all covered, but none after Nixon. Still, there is a clear effort to include a wide variety of countries and cultures, and this ambitious effort will be the starting point for many historical journeys. (chronology, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-4709-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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