Customer Reviews

Talk: NPR's Susan Stamberg Considers All Things

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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.

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?