Customer Reviews

This ...Is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years (Prentice-Hall corporate library)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I finished Robert Slater's 1988 book on CBS in November of 2011. If the test of a nonfiction book is how it holds up after 22 years, then Slater's book deserves all of the five stars I have given it.

There are scores of books that have been written about CBS and the people who have appeared on and off the CBS screen through the years. Slater has taken the time to weave together a story based on many of these predecessor books and his first-hand interviews. What sets this book apart for the interested reader in broadcast history is the arch that he develops tracing founder William Paley's early efforts in stitching together a small floundering radio network into the broadcasting giant that CBS News turned into in the years leading into and during World War II under the leadership of Edward R. Murrow. Fittingly, the book ends with Dan Rather's on-air hostilities with Vice-President George H.W. Bush as he ran for the 1988 GOP presidential nomination reminding us of events that occurred 16 years later when Dan on 60 Minutes II ran with the now discredited story of President George W. Bush's military service.

As I write this review, CBS News is slowly getting back its sterling silver reputation under its new leadership and anchor Scott Pelley. This book can serve as a useful reminder of the unbelievable legacy that is part of CBS News.