Customer Reviews

A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland

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I picked this up because I had a long commute and it was about the only thing that looked interesting in the library's collection of audio books on CD. What I found was surprisingly charming and entertaining. Mr. Brokaw gives us a biography of who he is, and starts out with his ancestors. He tells how they came to South Dakota, what was important to them, and how that eventually affected him. He includes proper historical setting for the events he relates and in some cases the reasons behind the values they held. He is clearly aware that a part of who he is comes from his ancestry.

He also tells about his own life; where he lived and the memories he has of the various places and people that were a part of his life. I was even impressed that he spent a considerable amount of time dealing with his shortcomings. One chapter tells how his pride and arrogance nearly cost him much of what he holds dear today, such as his career and his wife. I was impressed with the candor with which he discussed the events, rather than trying to excuse himself or simply hide a weakness. Another item that made me smile was telling about how the parents of a friend, who had gone through the Depression, had a difficult time using disposable paper towels, such a wasteful item.

While perhaps a nostalgic view of his life, I found it honest and sincere and I enjoyed listening to it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Tom Brokaw is ten years older than I, but I can identify with many of his experiences in growing up. Like him, I came from a small state that is often ridiculed by those from more urbanized areas (Arkansas in my case). Like him, I was lucky enough to be born to wonderful parents that instilled the right values. Like him, I don't really want to move back to where I came from, but I am eternally grateful for it, love to visit, and continue to be nourished by it.

Brokaw is a thoroughly appealing character in this book. His introduction cites his mother's assessment of the book: that his ego was showing through in some places. True enough, but it's not the sort of display that irritates you--more like the sort where you shake your head and are more than a little charmed. He doesn't spare himself in his account. He was told at one point by his future wife to basically shove off, since he was obviously heading nowhere fast--an assessment that one of his friends cooly confirmed to Brokaw's face. Given where he has gone since then, it's a little comforting to learn that he wasn't some ambitious machine checking off the steps on his ladder to success.

I especially enjoyed his discussion of how his consciousness was raised as regards treatment of American Indians. Time and again, a somewhat cocky Brokaw is shown not to be as smart as he thinks. The response of an Indian woman to his self-assured statement that he knew a lot about Indians since he was from South Dakota--I'll leave that to you to discover. It's a gem.

I've always had a weakness for tales told by people who are out of the limelight, who aren't the immediate images called up when you think of a particular era, who weren't in what some would consider the "mainstream". Tom Brokaw's South Dakota upbringing is just as integral a part of America in the '40's and '50's as that of someone not living in "fly-over" territory. He brings it to life in an engaging way.

Just as my parents turned to Walter Cronkite to bring them the news when I was growing up, I have turned to Tom Brokaw. Through numerous presidential elections, world crises and the horrific days surrounding 9/11, his coverage has been the one I tuned to. To me, Brokaw has a way of delivering the news that makes it seem like a conversation among friends --- with a tone that has feeling and emotion, as well as authority.

A couple of years ago at an AOL Partners Conference, Brokaw was a guest speaker. He had just finished covering the funerals of Lady Di and Mother Teresa, traveling to both from his vacation at his home in Montana. His stories about two long trips to report on these high-profile events back-to-back gave new perspective on the high price that being in the news spotlight carries. His talk was personal as he referenced how the Internet has changed the way we receive news and what it --- and cable --- have done to the relevance of the kind of news he has delivered for the past couple of decades --- network news. Later I heard him moderate a panel about this same subject in the city with some leading journalists from Time, CNN and TheStreet.com. He was the consumate host, approaching the evening's discussion with one caveat. We would be finished by 8:00 as the Yankees were playing in the Playoffs and he was not going to miss the game on television. Sports, which brought him such joy when he was growing up, continue to be a passion.

While Brokaw is great to watch from the studio in New York, the pieces that he has done in Montana and South Dakota have been some of my favorites. He always seems more in his element there in the Heartland than he does standing or sitting at an anchor desk in New York. As he walks along a mountain ridge or a street in a small midwestern town doing an interview or a color piece, it is clear that his home and his history in South Dakota mean a lot to him.

Reading A LONG WAY FROM HOME: Growing Up in the American Heartland I see why. It's a memoir of the days before Brokaw left South Dakota to travel the country as a reporter, and then as a national media personality. What shaped him was a childhood in this desolate part of the country where success was measured on honest work and a God-fearing life.

One interesting note --- while television was available in most major cities by the mid-'40s, it did not find its way to South Dakota until the early '50s. News in this part of the country came from radio --- where the weather report led the news since it would affect everyone's livelihood, farming. He would watch David Garroway on the Today Show with his mom, not knowing that someday he would have that same anchor seat. He writes how his mom would comment on his broadcasts with the seasoned eye of someone who had watched the show for years before her son took over.

With a gift of gab from the time he was a young boy, Brokaw gave his first public speech at age four --- it began with "They said I was too young to speak a piece tonight" --- a line he still remembers. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Throughout the book he references friends from over the years, and how they have influenced his life. For all his celebrity there were a lot of stories about how he has woven his past and present lives together, asking old childhood friends to join him at events like the Olympics and other special athletic championships. This is a man who has moved on, but still remains connected to the place that raised him. He and his wife Meredith returned to South Dakota to celebrate their 40th Anniversary last summer. As a man who could afford to celebrate this event anywhere he chose, it is fitting that he returned to his roots for this.

The basic values are referred to again and again. His mom taught him and his brothers to handle household chores such as basic cooking, ironing and shopping, as well as guiding him in building self-confidence and getting a good education. At one point he mentions how he often will iron his own clothes in a hotel, rather than spend the time or money to call for valet service. His dad, Red, named for his flaming red hair, taught him the value of a hard day's work though he confesses he inherited none of his dad's handyman talent.

Brokaw does not glorify his early days. He spends a fair number of pages talking about his failures and what he did when his path went awry. There's a lot here for people to learn about Brokaw. At the same time there are some pretty strong lessons about mastering the basics in life.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

Tom Brokaw gives us a vivid recollection of his formative years and with that a history of the United States that flows well from page to page. But, Tom, we know you have made a wonderful life for yourself and do not really need to be reminded every third page. Next book, just write about Park Avenue, lovely, elegant trips and celebrities you have met. This book should have been kept to life in the heartland.

I admit that the fact that Tom Brokaw used to be a local announcer on a Sioux City newscast--tho I don't remember watching him--and that he spent years in Yankton influenced me to read this book, but I think it can speak to many people about growing up and doing the right thing while doing so. I found his account of the struggles of his forbears in South Dakota poignant, his account of his time in Bristol, Igloo, Ravinia, Pickstown, and Yankton full of interest. If you liked Russell Baker's Growing Up (which won a Pulitzer Prize) I think you will also like this book, even tho it might not win a Pulitzer. You can read this in a few hours, and when you are finished I bet you will have warm and friendly feeling about the author. I surely did.

Mr. Brokaw's book is a realistic look at the hard life experienced fy residents of the Plains during the depression years. The story of this difficult life is tempered by the writer's nostalgia for the strong human values with which the residents of this part of our country are imbued. WIthout the author even having to state it, he himself is obviously greatly affected by these values with which he was inculcated. The author writes with affection and love-- for a time which all Americans cherish, no matter where they were born, if they grew up with a strong family life.

This is an excellent and heartwarming book about growing up in South Dakota. Brokaw, easily the most intelligent, fair and personable of the network news anchors, goes into what made him what he is today -- growing up in America's heartland, the struggles of his father and mother, his life growing up, and his temporary descent into idiothood -- before pulling back and marrying his college sweetheart.

An excellent and highly literate book! I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes biographies.

I can relate to this book. My parents lived through the Depression and raised their children in the prosperous sixties and seventies. They live in northern Wisconsin where most of the population was white. The similarites with Brokaw's South Dakota is basically the same. As a product of the Midwest, Brokaw is more similar to me than Rather (Texas) or Jennings (Canada).
I enjoyed this simple story. Tom relates how he made it in televison journalism and New York. Despite where he lives now, he considers himself at home in South Dakota rather than New York. Tom chronicles his early life and relates how and where he was raised even now determine his outlook on life. I feel the same way and that is why this book struck home. I would rather tramp the forests of northern Wisconsin than see the lights of Chicago. People make their way in life in some measure because of who they were born to and where they lived. Tom's rural life and his parents survival of the Depression determined a lot of what Tom eventually turned out to be. A great story.

Review of Tom Brokaw's A Long Way From Home

Tom Brokaw's A Long Way From Home: Growing up in the American Heartland provides a fascinating look into the roots of one of America's most beloved television newsmen. Brokaw's story about his humble begins in rural South Dakota and the life lessons learned during his childhood delivers a theme of how the formative years will impact the rest of people's lives--no matter how far from home life takes them. Brokaw narrates how dependent all his life's successes have been on the values taught to him by his upbringing in the American heartland.
Brokaw begins his novel by telling the story of the evolution of his family since they settled in the South Dakota. He tells of great-grandfather's role in shaping the town of Bristol, SD and of his father's day's delivering coal and ice to support himself at age 10. The Great Depression's impact on both his father's and mother's lives is explained and is never forgotten, as it is a familiar theme throughout Brokaw's childhood.
The novel then moves on to the various stops in Brokaw's South Dakota childhood. From Igloo, the site of his first Public speaking performance, to Yankton where he graduated high school and landed his first broadcasting job. Along the way, Brokaw tells of childhood mischief and misadventures with his younger brothers and childhood friends in the great outdoors. Brokaw openly and honestly reveals his struggles with failure as young man after high school and the rocky relationship that developed into a marriage to the love of his life, Meredith Auld.
The issue of race and the importance of his mother also warrant entire chapters in the book. Brokaw explains his view of Native Americans as a child and of his realization the injustices done against them in his home state. Brokaw's mother, Jean Conely Brokaw, had the greatest influence on Tom's life. Her work ethic and even her political consciousness and news acquiring habits were passed on to her eldest son. Brokaw beautifully illustrates her role in his family and in his life.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with Brokaw's memoirs. I was expecting a soppy, romanticized version of his life, but it was definitely not that. The book is a page-turning, relatable collection of funny stories and life lessons.

Veteran newscaster Brokaw made me weep with THE GREATEST GENERATION, so I had high hopes for this one. Undoubtedly, his essays are thoughtfully, honestly written and he is both a gentleman and a scholar. However, this work is often too self indulgent (as autobiographical works can be!) to evoke much emotion from the average reader. For example: It's hard to get too choked up over his financial struggles in the post-Depression midwest when, in the same sentence, he mentions negotiating a multi-million dollar contract or his sprawling Manhattan condo.

I look forward to adding more of Brokaw's works to my library, and hope he will devote a good portion of his upcoming retirement from the Nightly News to writing!