Customer Reviews

World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts That Riveted a Nation

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This is a unique and intriguing book which creatively captures the history of Edward R. Murrow and "Murrow's Boys." The book includes a CD containing 51 broadcasts just as they were heard live during World War II, with narration by Dan Rather. The text has symbols throughout, keying the reader to the CD track which compliments the written words with the voices of these brave men as they broadcasted from all over the world. The text includes concise profiles of the various members of Murrow's team: William Shirer (author of RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH), Eric Sevareid, Howard K. Smith, Larry LaSueur, Charles Collingwood, Winston Burdett and Richard Hottelet, among others. To those who remember WWII these names will be very familiar, and for those who do not, they tell the war's story with passion, intensity and professionalism. The authors have painstakingly researched the intricate details of how William Paley took the embryonic Columbia Broadcast System from a largely soft entertainment network to the premier news gathering and reporting organization which eclipsed all others during the war. The role Murrow plays in this evolution reveals a man of tremendous commitment to his craft, despite almost no previous experience in radio, with a great capacity for judging and selecting the others who became the critical reporters on his team. The travails of Murrow and the others as they faced death in flights over enemy territory, beach assaults and other combat assignments and suffered the tyranny of technological challenges with equipment strained to the breaking point make for great reading. The authors weave the complexities of personalities, politics, warfare and technology into a comprehensive and coherent book. The CD is haunting and chilling as these now dead voices bring back to the present momentous events which told America about the fighting of the war and the slow and painful process of winning peace just as they were happening. This book will be a superb addition to the library of any student of WWII and is also recommended for any reader who enjoys fast paced history in the making.

I read the Rise and Fall on the 3rd Reich in high school, and I had always thought of Wm Shirer as a historian - I had no idea that he was a reporter during the war, and had a unique seat and understanding watching the Nazi drama unfold.

Great book. You can really appreciate the difficulty of getting a live broadcast from Europe done in 1938, and how hard Murrow and company worked at it. There was no "press freedom" then, and the deference the press is shown today didn't exist then. They were a courageous bunch, Morrow's boys. And look at the roster! Murrow and Shirer, Eric Sevareid, Howard K. Smith, Charles Collingwood, and back in New York, William Paley was calling the shots and rooting Murrow on. What a collection of talent. Amazing.

The only irritating thing about it concerns the CD - why did Rather narrate it and not Walt Cronkite? Cronkite had front line reporting experience in WWII (was on the beach at D-day and made a jump with the 101st) and ended up working for Morrow after the war. Every time I hear Rather narrate, I have the feeling he doesn't deserve to be talking.

Otherwise the radio clips are superb.

Collaboratively compiled and written by Mark Bernstein and Alex Lubertozzi, World War II On The Air: Edward R. Murrow And The Broadcasts That Riveted A Nation presents the stories behind the implacable and courageous radio correspondents who brought the reality of war itself into living rooms across the nation for the first time in history. More than 50 actual broadcasts, and an audio CD narrated by Dan Rather, enhance this unique and very highly recommended look at World War II events and personalities as the home front experienced it through the medium of radio broadcasting.

There is only one reason to buy this book--for the CD. I found the book to be poorly written, bland and superficial. Of course, I had just finished reading "Citizens of London.." by Lynne Olsen, which is one of the best books I have ever read, period. I kept thinking to myself when I read "World War II On the Air:..." that it was written for middle schoolers. Honestly, I'm glad I didn't pay too much it. So, if you want to listen to the voices of radio from WWII, buy this book, but read "The Murrow Boys" by Olsen or "Citizens of London" for the history.

Excellent, valuable introduction and sampler to this topic; complements well Bob Edwards' work on Murrow and The Murrow Boys (and Girl)....
Appreciated especially:
the brief bios of the various chartacters, not only the well-known (Murrow, Shirer, Collingwood, etc.) but also the now lesser known (Paley, Paul White, Tom Grandin, for example).
The operative word here for both the book and CD is Intro....
What may be needed to supplement this work are CD sets of the actual broadcasts from archival sources, complete with the original intros and back-announces if extant. Indeed a sampling of a few original CBS evening news broadcasts in toto, to show how these overseas reports fitted in to regular domestic broadcasts. Of value would be the complete transcription of the first CBS Evening News Roundup, at the time of the Munich Crisis.
Years ago, CBS/Columbia issued a 2-LP set in the "I Can Hear It Now" series, of a sampling of Murrow's 1939-1946 broadcasts, from BBC and CBS archival material. This has been art of print for decades. A reissue of this on CD by Sony would be valuable, especially for the student of broadcast journalism.
Again, a very fine beginning.

I use this book in my classroom, it has a CD of actual news broadcasts and they students just love to sit and listen to what news sounded like before the Internet and glory-seeking newscaster.

I bought this as a gift for my stepdad who is interested in all things World War II, and I could tell by his reaction as he read it that it wasn't the most engrossing material he'd ever read.