23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, not perfect, but still excellent, November 6, 2000
Mr. Ted Koppel is easily one of the most respected journalists we have the pleasure of listening to and watching almost daily. He has honed his craft for 36 years, and has anchored "Nightline" for nearly 20 years. If peer recognition is used as a measure of his contribution and talent, 32 Emmy Awards, 6 Peabody Awards, 9 Overseas Press Awards, and several others clearly demonstrate he is held in high regard.
As the book takes place in a daily entry format, it is not as fluid as more traditional prose, and Mr. Koppel clearly enjoyed having some fun while documenting the remarkable events that a successful career, that is his, entails. I refer specifically to his asides about his food shopping at Giant Supermarkets. These light diversions are at times extremely funny and serve to demonstrate a wit that I was not familiar with. Even though they reside on competing networks, he clearly could step in for Andy Rooney if the occasion arose.
The thoughts recorded over the year of 1999 are in the main serious by themselves, and in the specifics of the topics he describes. He is brutally candid about an enormous range of issues, and this is the only reason I can think of that would cause some readers to not like this book. I still believe his insights are valuable even if one or more may not be in line with your own.
If you are a supporter of President Clinton, you will not like this book. Mr. Koppel has strong feelings about what a President should be, what a leader is, and Mr. Clinton does not meet any of them. The Clintons evidently feel the same, as when Elie Wiesel asked that Mr. Koppel be one of his 5 friends at a dinner for him at The Whitehouse, the invitation was never sent. Though Mr. Koppel never expected the invitation to be honored, it clearly offended Mr. Wiesel, and demonstrated the pettiness that The White House can enjoy.
I enjoyed the format of the book as he spoke briefly in his entries as measured by length, by expressed more understanding of his chosen topics than many books on the same subjects convey. In 3 paragraphs he flays foreign policy for the contradiction in terms it often is, and in slightly more space he demonstrates how strange the attitudes toward Mr. Clinton have been. There were a series of questions asked by pollsters, and not one was ambiguous in expressing the thoughts of those asked; "the majority (73-79%) of the American people are perfectly content to have a President whom they regard as having low moral and ethical standards, who is not a positive role model for young people and who is neither honest nor trustworthy, but who appears, figuratively speaking, to be bringing home the bacon." Former Democratic Governor of New York Mr. Mario Cuomo said, "Yeah, I wouldn't trust this guy in Church, and I wouldn't let him date my Sister, but he's a terrific President." One has to wonder which of Mr. Clinton's frailties Mr. Cuomo lacked that kept him from seeking the Presidency.
We learn who he believes constitutes a leader, Winston Churchill, George Washington, and why even leaders who may have had faults, like King Hussein, were still leaders as they routinely did that which Clinton has never done, put the people they represent, their Country, ahead of themselves, their own interests.
He speaks eloquently on issues of race, commenting on our taking in 20,000 refugees from the former Yugoslavia, and wondering will the same ever be the case with a similar exodus from the Continent of Africa.
He says more than once that we may someday refer to the present years as the "prewar years". He also shares the little known secret that the rest of the world does not necessarily think America is quite as great as we find ourselves. Kosovo and its surroundings, and inhabitants illustrate beautifully, how our actions are perceived by those we believe we are helping. It's the old adage that perception is all that matters.
The book is opinionated but not arrogant. Mr. Koppel has strong views, but he also has the first hand experience and knowledge to back his statements. You may not like some of what he has to say, but you will be hard pressed to debate and defeat him. I do find it very upsetting that so many quotes in the book have been paraded about so far from the context they were in, as to make them not only meaningless and irrelevant to how they actually appear in the book, but also are denigrating to those people who are mentioned. Mr. Koppel has strong negative feelings about the actions of some, he never wrote in the humiliating manner some of the selective outtakes of the book suggest.
As I said earlier, excellent, but not perfect, however, books like this are so frustratingly rare, it is even more valuable that he took the time to write it. He did not write for the money, or for the attention. He has the former from nearly 4 decades of hard work, and the latter he has every evening.
A very well informed, articulate man, who has delivered a work that is at times sobering, is thoroughly engaging, and thought provoking.
Unconditionally recommended.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Look into a Reporters Mind, November 22, 2000
I enjoyed this book of Ted Koppel's private thoughts. One never thinks about the tearful goodbye's to a reporter's loved ones before leaving on a dangerous assignment. Nor considers the unpleasant conditions which much be endured while reporting such a story. I found that the book put a much more human face on neat and tidy reports we see on the evening news. It was also interesting to hear Ted's take on the major news stories of the year. Opinions that could not be shared on national TV.
It gave a certain level of comfort to know that a person who has such control over what we hear of the news, is really just a regular person who goes to the store, gets gas for his car and is excited about the birthday of his grandson.
A quick read. I skimmed some parts about the Chechen's. But then isn't what he said in the book after all. We, as a nation ,are not too interested in that news.
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