Rating: 
Summary: A Long Way fromHome: Growing Up in the American Heartland in
Review: A very interesting book that brings back a lot of memories for me, growing up in North Dakota during the same time period. I guess we were pretty much raised the same in this area. I am just now realizing that we were all pretty much in the same boat (we didn't have much, but we didn't realize it).
Rating:
Summary: Fun and interesting
Review: I admit that the fact that Tom Brokaw used to be a local announcer on a Sioux City newscast--tho I don't remember watching him--and that he spent years in Yankton influenced me to read this book, but I think it can speak to many people about growing up and doing the right thing while doing so. I found his account of the struggles of his forbears in South Dakota poignant, his account of his time in Bristol, Igloo, Ravinia, Pickstown, and Yankton full of interest. If you liked Russell Baker's Growing Up (which won a Pulitzer Prize) I think you will also like this book, even tho it might not win a Pulitzer. You can read this in a few hours, and when you are finished I bet you will have warm and friendly feeling about the author. I surely did.
Rating: 
Summary: The young life of Tom Brokaw.
Review: I can relate to this book. My parents lived through the Depression and raised their children in the prosperous sixties and seventies. They live in northern Wisconsin where most of the population was white. The similarites with Brokaw's South Dakota is basically the same. As a product of the Midwest, Brokaw is more similar to me than Rather (Texas) or Jennings (Canada).
I enjoyed this simple story. Tom relates how he made it in televison journalism and New York. Despite where he lives now, he considers himself at home in South Dakota rather than New York. Tom chronicles his early life and relates how and where he was raised even now determine his outlook on life. I feel the same way and that is why this book struck home. I would rather tramp the forests of northern Wisconsin than see the lights of Chicago. People make their way in life in some measure because of who they were born to and where they lived. Tom's rural life and his parents survival of the Depression determined a lot of what Tom eventually turned out to be. A great story.
Rating:
Summary: The young life of Tom Brokaw.
Review: I can relate to this book. My parents lived through the Depression and raised their children in the prosperous sixties and seventies. They live in northern Wisconsin where most of the population was white. The similarites with Brokaw's South Dakota is basically the same. As a product of the Midwest, Brokaw is more similar to me than Rather (Texas) or Jennings (Canada).
I enjoyed this simple story. Tom relates how he made it in televison journalism and New York. Despite where he lives now, he considers himself at home in South Dakota rather than New York. Tom chronicles his early life and relates how and where he was raised even now determine his outlook on life. I feel the same way and that is why this book struck home. I would rather tramp the forests of northern Wisconsin than see the lights of Chicago. People make their way in life in some measure because of who they were born to and where they lived. Tom's rural life and his parents survival of the Depression determined a lot of what Tom eventually turned out to be. A great story.
Rating: 
Summary: Half a Book
Review: I don't know what the publisher was thinking. The spaces between the lines in the book look almost twice the size as a normal book. What has been done here is to offer a small book as a large one. It is funny that Mr. Brokaw is writing such a small book about his life. Is there nothing new to share with readers? Like bubblegum that has been elongated the book lacks flavor and zest and is really nothing more than text with Brokaw's face plastered on it. Next time Tom give us the whole story with a real book.
Rating: 
Summary: Plain and Fancy
Review: I picked this up because I had a long commute and it was about the only thing that looked interesting in the library's collection of audio books on CD. What I found was surprisingly charming and entertaining. Mr. Brokaw gives us a biography of who he is, and starts out with his ancestors. He tells how they came to South Dakota, what was important to them, and how that eventually affected him. He includes proper historical setting for the events he relates and in some cases the reasons behind the values they held. He is clearly aware that a part of who he is comes from his ancestry.He also tells about his own life; where he lived and the memories he has of the various places and people that were a part of his life. I was even impressed that he spent a considerable amount of time dealing with his shortcomings. One chapter tells how his pride and arrogance nearly cost him much of what he holds dear today, such as his career and his wife. I was impressed with the candor with which he discussed the events, rather than trying to excuse himself or simply hide a weakness. Another item that made me smile was telling about how the parents of a friend, who had gone through the Depression, had a difficult time using disposable paper towels, such a wasteful item. While perhaps a nostalgic view of his life, I found it honest and sincere and I enjoyed listening to it.
Rating:
Summary: An honest look at a simpler time
Review: I picked this up because I had a long commute and it was about the only thing that looked interesting in the library's collection of audio books on CD. What I found was surprisingly charming and entertaining. Mr. Brokaw gives us a biography of who he is, and starts out with his ancestors. He tells how they came to South Dakota, what was important to them, and how that eventually affected him. He includes proper historical setting for the events he relates and in some cases the reasons behind the values they held. He is clearly aware that a part of who he is comes from his ancestry. He also tells about his own life; where he lived and the memories he has of the various places and people that were a part of his life. I was even impressed that he spent a considerable amount of time dealing with his shortcomings. One chapter tells how his pride and arrogance nearly cost him much of what he holds dear today, such as his career and his wife. I was impressed with the candor with which he discussed the events, rather than trying to excuse himself or simply hide a weakness. Another item that made me smile was telling about how the parents of a friend, who had gone through the Depression, had a difficult time using disposable paper towels, such a wasteful item. While perhaps a nostalgic view of his life, I found it honest and sincere and I enjoyed listening to it.
Rating:
Summary: You can take the boy out of South Dakota, but...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Tom Brokaw is ten years older than I, but I can identify with many of his experiences in growing up. Like him, I came from a small state that is often ridiculed by those from more urbanized areas (Arkansas in my case). Like him, I was lucky enough to be born to wonderful parents that instilled the right values. Like him, I don't really want to move back to where I came from, but I am eternally grateful for it, love to visit, and continue to be nourished by it. Brokaw is a thoroughly appealing character in this book. His introduction cites his mother's assessment of the book: that his ego was showing through in some places. True enough, but it's not the sort of display that irritates you--more like the sort where you shake your head and are more than a little charmed. He doesn't spare himself in his account. He was told at one point by his future wife to basically shove off, since he was obviously heading nowhere fast--an assessment that one of his friends cooly confirmed to Brokaw's face. Given where he has gone since then, it's a little comforting to learn that he wasn't some ambitious machine checking off the steps on his ladder to success. I especially enjoyed his discussion of how his consciousness was raised as regards treatment of American Indians. Time and again, a somewhat cocky Brokaw is shown not to be as smart as he thinks. The response of an Indian woman to his self-assured statement that he knew a lot about Indians since he was from South Dakota--I'll leave that to you to discover. It's a gem. I've always had a weakness for tales told by people who are out of the limelight, who aren't the immediate images called up when you think of a particular era, who weren't in what some would consider the "mainstream". Tom Brokaw's South Dakota upbringing is just as integral a part of America in the '40's and '50's as that of someone not living in "fly-over" territory. He brings it to life in an engaging way.
Rating:
Summary: Integrity
Review: I've always sought out Tom Brokaw's reporting through the long list of high quality news anchors. At an early point, if asked, I could point to the fact that Brokaw was just a touch more honest or unbiased, just a bit more believable in his reporting.
Brokaw and his family's circumstances weren't that much different than others. But, it was how his family was able to handle the hardships through hard work, ingenuity, and integrity that stuck with Brokaw and what made him successful and more importantly happy in life. An important lesson for today's families.
This book is a great view of what made America and the family of that generation important. This is an articulate, uplifting book about an American icon's childhood.
Rating:
Summary: Perspective from a long-time Midwest Broadcaster
Review: In a word, great! Nothing is more important in a newsman than personal integrity and it's obvious the South Dakota upbringing instilled those values early in Tom's life. For year's I've realized that broadcast journalism has been carried to a new level by Brokaw, and now this book tells me why. It's a must read for anyone, but especially for any broadcast newsman who remembers sporting purple fingers from changing the ribbons in the old UPI teletypes. Tom brings it all home again. John Schad
President
Smarts Broadcast Systems
Emmetsburg, Iowa
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