Cronkite Remembers

Rating:
Summary: That's not the way it was -- there was more to it!
Review: Don't confuse CRONKITE REMEMBERS with A REPORTER'S LIFE. The latter is a genuine memoir from TV's second greatest journalist (next to Edward R. Murrow). The former is a brief tape that breezes through events so quickly as to be wholly unsatisfying. Walter Cronkite has lived a long enough life and had a rich enough career to merit two autobiographies, but CRONKITE REMEMBERS is so superficially brief as to trivialize his career and the events he covered rather than add to our understanding of them. This isn't a terrible tape. It isn't unpleasant to listen to. I liked hearing Cronkite's voice, which I could only imagine while reading A REPORTER'S LIFE. But I was left wanting more - much, much more. That's why CRONKITE REMEMBERS merits a low rating. Skip this and get A REPORTER'S LIFE.

Rating:
Summary: That's not the way it was -- there was more to it!
Review: Don't confuse CRONKITE REMEMBERS with A REPORTER'S LIFE. The latter is a genuine memoir from TV's second greatest journalist (next to Edward R. Murrow). The former is a brief tape that breezes through events so quickly as to be wholly unsatisfying. Walter Cronkite has lived a long enough life and had a rich enough career to merit two autobiographies, but CRONKITE REMEMBERS is so superficially brief as to trivialize his career and the events he covered rather than add to our understanding of them. This isn't a terrible tape. It isn't unpleasant to listen to. I liked hearing Cronkite's voice, which I could only imagine while reading A REPORTER'S LIFE. But I was left wanting more - much, much more. That's why CRONKITE REMEMBERS merits a low rating. Skip this and get A REPORTER'S LIFE.

Rating:
Summary: Newsbites
Review: This is a celebration of Cronkite's more than 50 years of journalism. Cronkite shares some of his early childhood memories with us, like how he got his first start in journalism- -selling papers on street corners. He traces his career through writing for newspapers and acting out baseball games on radio. He also tells us about the war years, when he covered the war in newsreels from Europe. He describes how, in the days before satellites, film footage of Queen Elizabeth's coronation had to be flown across the ocean before it could be broadcast on this continent. He reminisces about his relationship with each of the presidents from Hoover through Reagan- -just the fact that he met and worked with so many presidents is a great indicator of his reputation as journalist. But in all of these interviews, recorded with Cronkite, his family, and co-workers, Cronkite never comes across as being overbearing or egotistical.

Towards the end of this tape, Cronkite looks back and selects the most important stories that he covered. Among these are his famous opinion statement on Vietnam, when he set aside the goal of trying to remain objective and spoke his mind, based on what he saw on the ground in Vietnam. Later he talks about the Lunar landings, and how they left him unexpectedly speechless. For younger audiences, this could be an interesting overview of the main stories of the Twentieth Century. For older listeners, it's a walk down memory lane.


Rating:
Summary: And that's the way it is!
Review: Walter Cronkite narrates his life, with comments from his friends and family. His life, however, is filled with special moments that make it very interesting. With humor and very personal opinions, he will take you from the day Kennedy was assassinated, to Russian bombs and Nazism, while at the same time providing insights about the American Presidents he met. In this narration, Cronkite shows a very human side, including comments about his mistakes while assessing news. I found this book very enjoyable to listen to, and if you have an interest in history, I think you will enjoy it too. Or as Cronkite would say: And that's the way it it!