Customer Reviews

The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

CBS News anchor Dan Rather gives us a truly fascinating look at 30 American Dreamers, their struggles and triumphs, and I can honestly say that the book doesn't lag in any single spot throughout, which is quite an accomplishment, when dealing with so many diffrent people's stories.

Also, Rather proves to be a very solid writer, sprinkling levity and personal anecdotes in just the right amount, in my humble opinion.

The first woman astronaut, a Food Network chef who remained illiterate until age 26, exceptional teachers, and author Jacquline Mitchard are but a handful of the folks Rather covers.

Well worth the read.

A reviewer has called into question the validity of the stories contained in this book. I can understand the skepticism, especially with respect to the Vietnam vet returning to adopt little Anna. I have read and re-read that story many times - and lived it too. Dan Rather captured the very essence of the experience my wife Karen and I had during our trip to Vietnam and the struggles which lead to our decision to adopt. We're disappointed only in our exclusion from the "abridged" audio book version - but will cherish this book as a legacy for our two children, Julie (home-made) and Anna.

This is an excellent book. Even the conservative thinktanks who despise the so-called liberal Dan Rather will have to agree with the often recurring theme that America uniquely provides opportunities for one to not only dare to dream but also to actively pursue those dreams.

Rather has presented a nicely condensed volume depicting stories that are summarized in less than 10 pages, but if each had been given full analytical treatment, a good number of them could possibly be 200-page parallels to Behind the Urals.

Neat. Concise. Concrete. A reminder that though freedom is almost second-nature or common sense to those of us born in America, it is a virtually ill-conceived notion for those who were not, and many in this latter group, despite obtaining U.S. citizenship, have already suffered economically and psychologically after growing up and living for several years under spartan conditions in other countries whose governments have turned both a deaf ear and a blind eye to them.

After reading these testimonies of overcoming hardship or oppression, or both, I, myself, am reminded that the U.S. is a great country and that even though there are so many unresolved issues here, we are at least, by all present-day standards, free to attempt to bring them to the forefront.

This book attempts to discover what the "American Dream" really is to many Americans. It does so by providing brief accounts of the lives of some Americans, some famous you will recognize, some not at all famous. Dan Rather is obviously an excellent reader and in this book you will hear his "real" voice with a sometime slight and sometimes not so slight Texas drawl. You will hear it strongly when he pronounces the word "school". Even though at times the book drags a little I enjoyed it immensely and will probably listen to it again. Most of the stories are great to listen to and it reminds me of talking at "old guy" in the park. The history lesson is wonderful and the "dream" is real. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American History. If you are not an American and are not interested in American history this book will be less interesting. If fact, I think it is necessary to be an American to enjoy the book but at least one Canadian liked it (see below). Just my opinion.

I listened to the book from 6 CD's converted to MP3.

A more appropriate subtitle for this book might be, Those who achieved despite America's wrongs. Readers like me who come to this book expecting patriotic success stories of Americans aided by their nation's greatness will be disappointed by Rather's cynical view that hangs over this book.

The book is chock full of success stories that were not broadcast during Rather's "American Dream" segments on the CBS Evening News program. The stories, due to Rather's fine writing skills, are inspiring, moving and heart-warming. The Americans portrayed are certainly deserving of the praise and attention this book brings them. Their stories alone make this book worth purchasing.

But, caveat emptor, Rather brands this book with his cynicism of what is wrong with America and how the U.S. Constitution should be viewed. He profiles the successes of the heroes in this book against the failings in American society that they had to overcome. Rather's favorite American sins? Greed, big business, the wealthy, and white men in the less-enlightened past. Word of mouth will not be good among Republican readers.

Rather, for the most part, shies away from famous household names in this collection. Even the people profiled in the "fame" chapter (with the exception perhaps of author Jacquelyn Mitchard) are not household names. While the subtitle of the book indicates these people come from the "heart" of the nation, most of those profiled here come from decidedly urban environments. But that should not detract from the fine stories presented here.

This is a good book that could have been great if Rather would have checked his ego at the keyboard.

While I am not an American, I very much enjoy and respect Dan Rather for his intellect, professionalism and communication skills. While this book is titled, "The American Dream," it is everyone's dream, the country, itself, is nothing more than geography. Most of us have a dream, whether it be to learn, grow, overcome great obstacles, fears and challeges, or the pursuit of freedom, peace, happiness and justice, in what is often an "unjust society." Through the pages of Rather's book you will meet people and read the stories of those who have, indeed, gone in search of their dreams. This is an excellent book and while it does conjure up feeling and compassion to a certain degree; it lacks the intense emotion of one other excellent book, "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. While the "American Dream" is well worth reading, if I had to make a choice between the two books, Brokaw's book would rank ahead of this one.

This was a very inspirational book. It brings to life the work of dozens of heroes...people who love America. There is SO MUCH greatness in the country. It is time we concentrate on that instead of dwelling on the negative stories. Don't tell Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, but Dan Rather will go down in history as one of the great broadcast journalists of all time. He walks the walk and talks the talk.

I never understood why some people hate Dan Rather so much. What a great book!!

Jeffrey McAndrew
broadcast journalist and author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Clearly, an inspirational book - well written, cogently presented - all in true-to-form Dan Rather style. Whilst telling us about many "American Success" stories, Rather seems to suggest that the right idea at the right time, combined with hard work, stamina, and perhaps a little bit of luck will ultimately get you there - to riches (material and otherwise). Sadly, it's also part of the American Dream that the rate of failure is much higher than one expects, and occasionally, the reason for failure is also rooted in the "American Dream".

Nevertheless, it's good to know that the Dream continues - a refreshing reminder amongst often too much bad news.

A good read - but don't get too carried away.

First off, I love Dan Rather. He's a wonderful, passionate man whom I love to watch on the news. The problem is, he's not a writer. Not a very good one at least. This book is a noble attempt, but there is just so much that's wrong with it.

For one thing, there is just some bad writing in it. It has a lot of errors in fact and a lot of typos. Among others, he writes that Texas A&M University (rather than Texas Tech) is in Lubbock, and he says that Ryne Sandberg in in the Baseball Hall of Fame (he just should be soon). There is also bad grammar (this is beyond the Texas colloquialisms in the book which I think are fine-I'm a Texan myself). These are fairly small problems, but they are oftly annoying, and they are not good signs in a book written by a journalist who's supposed to report facts. Furthermore, he just has few narrative talents, at least not those required for a book. He tells the stories as a journalist on Headline News would--concise, to the point, and without much flavor. They're just there; the reader is rarely drawn in.

The most glaring flaw, though, is that there are a lot of flaws in logic in the book. For instance, one of the stories is about a ten-year-old boy who realizes that many of the underpriveleged at his school cannot afford school supplies, so he works together an organization that collects and disperses those needed supplies. This is all obviously a good thing. But then, Rather relates a joke told by the boy's mother who said she needed to haul the school supplies around so she "traded in [her] Lexus for a Durango, and now [she's] getting a Yukon because the Durango isn't big enough." My problem is the huge contrast here. On one hand, there are all of these kids lacking necessities and the heroes who are helping them are laughing about purchasing one expensive SUV after another for themselves. How is this inequality emblematic of the American Dream? How does this book manage to lament the rising poverty rates and terrible living conditions and still manage to promote excessive materialism? There are some people in the book who are praised for having overcome hardship to make millions (some of them stepping on other people's heads to do so) and others who are praised for having given up millions to help those in need. Frankly, these two "ideals" don't go together. Nevertheless, these people, according to Rather, have all attained the American dream. There are a lot of contradicting ideas expressed in these stories. Furthermore, I don't really think Rather has a great concept of what the American dream is. When Sister Sylvia Schmidt founds a homeless shelter in Tulsa, OK, I don't think she is following the American Dream. I think she's following dreams that go far beyond the American Dream, and I think she's rejecting the prevalent, primarily materialistic, concept of the American Dream of today's society.

I'm giving the book two stars because I like Dan Rather, and because some of the stories were rather inspiring. Neverthess, it's not a good book. I will continue to watch Dan Rather on tv, but I'm quite sure I won't read a book by him again.

Broadcast journalist Dan Rather collected inspirational stories from a cross-section of Americans who expressed their feelings about transforming dreams into reality. Themes include freedom, enterprise, pursuit of happiness, family, celebrity, education, innovation, and service. The recurring theme throughout the book is that America uniquely provides opportunities for one to not only dare to dream but also to actively pursue those dreams. That our visions can come true if we believe in ourselves, accept help when it is offered and work hard.