Talk: NPR's Susan Stamberg Considers All Things [Hardcover]

Susan Stamberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1993

All Things Considered"" presents a collection of her interviews with the world's most influential people, including James Baldwin, Robert Altman, Rosa Parks, Helen Hayes, and Georgia O'Keeffe. 35,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The first woman to anchoar a national nightly news program, Stamberg brought her inimitable style to National Public Radio in 1971 and helped it grow into an influential network with a weekly audience of 15 million -- and in the process she helped transform broadcast news. Talk is a sparkling collection of her most outstanding interviews and reports, mainly for NPR's award-winning newsmagazine All Things Considered. Here are the voices that shaped the major events of two decades. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

This rich collection of 85 interviews conducted by Stamberg ( Every Night at Five ) for National Public Radio's news show, All Things Considered , is a browser's delight. From 1971 to 1991, Stamberg held on-air conversations with artists, politicians, activists and others in the public eye. Here, the talks are organized by year, and each begins with an introduction--some of which occasionally run too long. Stamberg's easygoing manner is deceptive; her finely honed style soon disarms her subjects into opening up (with the exception of Nancy Reagan, whose glacial veneer even Stamberg failed to pierce). Of particular interest are the interviews with John Ehrlichman, jazz great Dave Brubeck, Rosa Parks, and Stamberg's own favorite interview--her lengthy 1977 conversation with writer Joan Didion about her work. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (May 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679411089
• ISBN-13: 978-0679411086
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,241,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming, Intelligent, and -- Surprise! -- Even a Bit Acerbic, April 15, 2007

By 

Bart King (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talk: npr's susan stamberg considers all things (Paperback)

Admittedly, TALK has been out-of-print for a while, but I'm still surprised that there aren't more reader reviews for it. For anyone who has enjoyed Susan Stamberg's warm, sometimes droll persona, this book is a treat. This is partially because it is quite easy to imagine Stamberg reading the material in TALK aloud.

Here, she has cherry-picked transcripts of shows from over the years that are important to her. Some of them are meant to show how prescient the interviewees were (on matters ranging from child-rearing to global warming to vegetarianism), some reflect her fascination with the arts (a bit too much material on Ernest Hemingway, I think), and some are just her personal favorites, for example, an interview with a very game Joan Didion.

Of particular interest is seeing hints of the iron hand inside Stamberg's velvet glove (er, microphone?), which I've never noticed before. For example, read her assessment of Nancy Reagan:

"I felt there was no weight to her -- neither physically nor emotionally nor intellectually. She was like a glass of champagne without the gaiety of bubbles. It wasn't that the champagne had gone flat. It seemed, instead, as if the bubbles had just never been there."

Ouch.

5.0 out of 5 stars Susan Stamberg: National Treasure, August 3, 2011

By 

L. Lindisch "Actor/model/waiter" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Talk: NPR's Susan Stamberg Considers All Things (Hardcover)

Regardless of your political leanings, Susan Stamberg is a reason to keep a government subsidy for public radio and television. She has a voice that can take the rust off of a nail, yet comes across as an inquisitive, masterful journalist. Did I mention the cranberry relish?