Customer Reviews

The Powers That Be

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I read and loved this book for the stories and details it gives on the American press over the period of its glory, to about 1980. At that time, in the wake of My Lai, Watergate, and the Pentagon Papers, the press had revealed to Americans how much we really resembled other powerful countries and the depths to which some of our politicians fell. Halberstam makes the people who contributed to this collective glory come alive, from Kay Graham at the Washington Post and Buff at the Los Angeles Times to Seymour Hersh and William S. Paley, founder of CBS. He tells the stories with his ususal high and humanistic style, in an unmistakable moral tone (at one point he laments that the Munsters were created in place of a news program). He also reviews the presidency and politics from about Eisenhower to Nixon in fascinating detail, with plenty of editorialising, such as Nixon's snubs of his original patrons at the LA Times.

It is truly great reading, but in the end there is a bit too much of it. In retrospect, it also appears dated, and perhaps places a bit too much faith in the press. For those like myself who increasingly feel that the press is ridiculously focused on personal foibles instead of issues and failed to do its duty during the Clinton scandals - preferring to keep a trivial story alive rather than point out that it has all, like, happened before - they will find little support and that Halberstam had any inkling of when things might go too far.

Nonetheless, no one has done a better job at telling the story of the press, in print and TV, than Halberstam. He also succeeds in putting a great deal of issues in proper perspective, such as the rich careers of Walter Lippman, Teddy White, and Walter Cronkite.

For an avid news reader in Israel, such as I am, journalism in the United States always seemed like a role model, something the local press should aspire to. From the Pentagon Papers to Watergate, we've always been told the courage of the US media is something to imitate.

This book put me in some proper perspective. Halberstam's wonderful inside information, ranging from political pressure put on newspapers and the networks to squabbles among the press people themselves, avidly shows how limited American journalism was then, and by induction, how limited it probably is now. It mentions stories that were dropped not because they were not good or verified, but merely because some powerful figure in Washington, or worse yet a sponsor, chose to intervene. What to naive people might seem a scandal is shown here to be standard practice.

I heartily recommend this book. It's length (over a 1000 pages) can be intimidating at first, but not after you start reading - this is probably the most readable work I've come across, packed with information and yet never dull. While the scope of the book is limited (it was published in the 70s and does not go beyond Watergate), it is truly enlightening and mind-expanding, a must for anyone wishing to understand the media.

This is a long book, but worth the time it takes to read. It's a history of the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine and CBS News.

Halberstam does an outstanding job of telling the stories of these organizations and tying them together in this book. The stories in this book are entertaining and informatative, teaching us about history, journalism and business.

If you've never read any of his books, this is a good one to start with. If you like it you should try some of his others, including:

The Best and The Brightest - A history of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and the Vietnam war.

The Children - A story about the Civil Rights movement.

The Fifties - I never thought it was a very interesting decade until I read this book.

The Reckoning - A history of Ford Motors.

He's also written some great sports books. The bottom line is that you can't go wrong with any of his books.

I read this book years ago and it still sticks with me. As a reporter in Vietnam, Halberstam was a thorn in the side of the Johnson and Nixon administration. He was watched by Nixon's plumbers and the FBI; Nixon thought he was a subversive. What he is is an exceptionally perceptive historian. In this book he follows the growth of the media industry from newsprint to magazines, radio and television. He told the Edward R. Murrow story before anybody else and his details on Watergate are even more frightening than Woodward and Bernstein's "All the President's Men." Halberstam seems to have that unique capacity to crawl inside the heads of people like Luce who gave us Time magazine. From their perspective, and those of everyday reporters, we see the struggle to balance grasping for the truth and the glory of the headline. We begin to understand how McCarthy could rise to power by using the deadline to sneak in enuedos about people. The author does a masterful job of showing the frustration of reporters and editors and how they finally overcame McCarthy's sinister power. This is an excellent book, not only for journalist but also for those who wish to understand the power of the media in shaping our world.

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I've read most of the books that Halberstam has written, and while I've liked them all, I think this is his best. In typical Halberstam form, the book is an interwoven parallel development of a number of stories. Halberstam tracks the development of four cornerstones of modern media: The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and CBS. He presents the media not only as watchdog, but also powerbroker. Examples include the role of the Times and Chandler family in sponsoring Richard Nixon and bringing him to national prominence and the impact Henry Luce had through Time magazine in determining American opinion of and foreign policy towards Asia in the 30's through the early 60's. For anyone who is interested in 20th centery history, political science, or the role of the media in political power, this is a must read.

Read all the other reviews for the media impacting intent which is only a small part of Halverstam's real message in spite of the title of this epoch. Halberstam's media message ranges from imformative to scarry.

But that which will stick with me forever is the way Halberstam delivers the frailty and fate of America to a mere mortal, the President of the United States. Eisenhower fiddles, Kennedy charms, Johnson screams and Nixon frightens. It took Halberstam seven years to research and write this book and after you read it you will wonder how he did it so fast, a monumental effort.

Fortunately the truth is often downright funny. Nixon's twenty eight year old publicity man making a side comment that Nixon looks like he drops down out of his closet every morning in the same rumbled suit and badly in need of a shave.

Halberstam conveys how power was for the taking and that those who had it developed it primarily in accordance with their own agendas, personal or family politics and use it and us in the process.

No matter that this is now just history ending with Watergate. Halberstam's real message is that the circumstances he describes will remain the same in any generation.

The Powers That Be may change the way you think of power and how it affects you.

When people ask me for a book recommendation, this is one of the four or five that I always suggest. Although the book's length can be intimidating, it is extremely readable, and gives an incredible overview and insight into Twentieth Century history. Anyone interested in modern American history, politics or media will love this book.

This is an incredible documentation on the workings of the political system - powerful unelected individuals who have a strong impact on our government - and how the fourth branch of government, the media, uses its power.

The book is over 1,000 pages long but you can easily pick it up in the middle, read a few pages, and learn some history, some gossip and a great deal about the way some of the dominant media figures and companies have developed. I have come back to this book again and again. I love its drive.

Fascinating and lucid, this book has a lot of anecdotes that enable readers to get personal with it's characters. Considering that its 768 pages long, this book is not one you're likely to read cover-to-cover-and that's just fine. Also, the book is somewhat out of date, and does not discuss developments that have occurred in the last fifteen years or so at all. But if you want to develop your media savvyness and learn some intriguing history, this book is right on.