Rating: 
Summary: Plain Writing, just like his speech!
Review: As a non-native English speaker who has been watching ABC's "This Week" all these years, I've always found David Brinkley's manner of speaking concise and easy to understand with short sentences and simple vocabulary. This was far cry from many other loud talking heads, including David's own colleagues on his Sunday program. He taught me how English could be spoken plainly but precisely and effectively. His memoir is written exactly the way he spoke. He gets to the point without being wordy and beating around the bush.
One thing I liked about this memoir is that he wrote more about his professional life than personal, which was of little interest to me. This memoir is also a history of American TV journalism, filled with episodes that were new to me. I was particularly interested in learning what he had to say about Joe McCarthy, whom David's own sister served as secretary for many years. Quite a bit is written about Kenndey brothers, too, including JFK assasination. So glad he published this memoir before he passed away.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and Entertaining
Review: Being born in the early 1970's, the only way that I remember and have become endeared to David Brinkley was on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley." It was Sunday morning must-see viewing for a political junkie like me. Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" has outstanding questioning of his guests, but for some reason Brinkley's show was my favorite. This book was a treasure for me to read because it was like seeing the history of modern politics from the front-lines. Brnkley was there as tv gained its foothold, and then its firm grip as THE MEDIUM to campaign for president. His insights into the different presidents since FDR are non-partisan and quite funny. He pulls no punches about who he liked and disliked and keeps his political ideology to himself for the most part. Though in the final chapter of this book, he does provide some biting commentary on the money-grubbing and unfair tax practices in this country. This book can be confusing at times, because Mr. Brinkley seems to have pieced it together as his thoughts were coming to him. It is random and does not follow any cohesive time-line. He will jump from talking about the 1950's then to the 1970's then back to the 1950's and 60's again. Frankly I did not understand the point and thought it might be easier to read had he decided to write in chronological order. I was also surprised to learn that Brinkley and his co-anchor Chet Huntley were the top rated news broadcasters of hteir day. All this time I had thought Walter Cronkite had ALWAYS been the #1 rated broadcaster and in fact his CBS program only gained on NBC in the early 1970's. Mr. Brinkley continuously expresses his fierce competitiveness towards the other networks and their newscasters. Some habits die hard for this career journalist who was constantly working hard to provide the BEST presentation in his field. This book is really an enjoyable read and I would recommend it anyone interested in the pre-CNN days of tv journalism. David Brinkley was a national treasure and I miss him every Sunday. He was truly the glue to that program among the huge egos of Sam Donaldson and George Will. Even if you just come across this book in a book store, I would especially take a good read towards the end, about page 245-246. He writes about a page and a half on the men that died on the beaches of Normandy. It is heart wrenching and tears welled up in my eyes while I was reading it. Then I reread it again and highlighted the section, because I will save that portion one as of the most outstanding tributes to the men of that "greatest generation" who died that day. It's worth it's price for that page alone.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and Entertaining
Review: Being born in the early 1970's, the only way that I remember and have become endeared to David Brinkley was on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley." It was Sunday morning must-see viewing for a political junkie like me. Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" has outstanding questioning of his guests, but for some reason Brinkley's show was my favorite. This book was a treasure for me to read because it was like seeing the history of modern politics from the front-lines. Brnkley was there as tv gained its foothold, and then its firm grip as THE MEDIUM to campaign for president. His insights into the different presidents since FDR are non-partisan and quite funny. He pulls no punches about who he liked and disliked and keeps his political ideology to himself for the most part. Though in the final chapter of this book, he does provide some biting commentary on the money-grubbing and unfair tax practices in this country. This book can be confusing at times, because Mr. Brinkley seems to have pieced it together as his thoughts were coming to him. It is random and does not follow any cohesive time-line. He will jump from talking about the 1950's then to the 1970's then back to the 1950's and 60's again. Frankly I did not understand the point and thought it might be easier to read had he decided to write in chronological order. I was also surprised to learn that Brinkley and his co-anchor Chet Huntley were the top rated news broadcasters of hteir day. All this time I had thought Walter Cronkite had ALWAYS been the #1 rated broadcaster and in fact his CBS program only gained on NBC in the early 1970's. Mr. Brinkley continuously expresses his fierce competitiveness towards the other networks and their newscasters. Some habits die hard for this career journalist who was constantly working hard to provide the BEST presentation in his field. This book is really an enjoyable read and I would recommend it anyone interested in the pre-CNN days of tv journalism. David Brinkley was a national treasure and I miss him every Sunday. He was truly the glue to that program among the huge egos of Sam Donaldson and George Will. Even if you just come across this book in a book store, I would especially take a good read towards the end, about page 245-246. He writes about a page and a half on the men that died on the beaches of Normandy. It is heart wrenching and tears welled up in my eyes while I was reading it. Then I reread it again and highlighted the section, because I will save that portion one as of the most outstanding tributes to the men of that "greatest generation" who died that day. It's worth it's price for that page alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful but could have been more organized.
Review: Brinkley gives the reader a lot of insight on how it was like to be one of the first people in broadcast journalism and he fills the book with rich anecdotes and humorous incidents that he got to cover. One such incident is that when he was covering the opening of Cape Canavaral in Florida the town of Cocca Beach grew so fast that a hotel owner expanded a hotel without even bothering to check to see if the additional land belonged to him. The actual owner of the land did not complain until the construction was finished and then he claimed the hotel to himself. Although Brinkley tries to go into a chronological order sometimes he skips back and forth between different time periods and this can be very confusing. As far as his content is concerned he includes a lot about various topics from the political conventions to the foreign policy issues that affected this nation (Vietnam and post World War II Europe). However the civil rights movement was a major part of the 1950's and 60's and since he is from the South I would have expected that he would have devoted an entire chapter to covering this tumultuous time in American history. Overall this book is worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining, enlightening, interesting read.
Review: Fans of David Brinkley, the Sunday-morning talking head, will not be disappointed with Brinkley, the autobiographer. The veteran TV newsman and commentator wrote down his anecdotes for the reader the same way he delivered commentary on "This Week" or during one of his many political conventions: he said what he meant. Brinkley may be the only man in broadcast journalism who had the nerve to state on-air to a national audience that he thought the President of the United States was "a bore," and that in a second Clinton term, Americans could expect more "damned nonsense." That particular episode occurred after this book was released, but it was vintage Brinkley nonetheless. Not much sugar coating with this guy, eh? While a news anchor for NBC on the Huntley-Brinkley report, Brinkley no doubt had to maintain an appearance of objectivity and disinterest in what politicians said or did, but his true feelings are revealed in the memoir. In addition to his unique perspective on things D.C., Brinkley recalls the early days of TV news, before live satellite feeds and videotape were perfected and put to widespread use, before how a person looked became as important as what one had to say. As someone born long after we started sending rockets into the great beyond, I gained an appreciation for what it must be like to have been a pioneer in a medium we now take for granted.
Rating:
Summary: He retired from TV, but at least you can read the book
Review: Fans of David Brinkley, the Sunday-morning talking head, will not be disappointed with Brinkley, the autobiographer. The veteran TV newsman and commentator wrote down his anecdotes for the reader the same way he delivered commentary on "This Week" or during one of his many political conventions: he said what he meant. Brinkley may be the only man in broadcast journalism who had the nerve to state on-air to a national audience that he thought the President of the United States was "a bore," and that in a second Clinton term, Americans could expect more "damned nonsense." That particular episode occurred after this book was released, but it was vintage Brinkley nonetheless. Not much sugar coating with this guy, eh? While a news anchor for NBC on the Huntley-Brinkley report, Brinkley no doubt had to maintain an appearance of objectivity and disinterest in what politicians said or did, but his true feelings are revealed in the memoir. In addition to his unique perspective on things D.C., Brinkley recalls the early days of TV news, before live satellite feeds and videotape were perfected and put to widespread use, before how a person looked became as important as what one had to say. As someone born long after we started sending rockets into the great beyond, I gained an appreciation for what it must be like to have been a pioneer in a medium we now take for granted.
Rating:
Summary: A fun book
Review: Having grown up with the Huntley-Brinkley report and watching them at all the conventions, I truly enjoyed this book. Especially interesting is how Brinkley trashes Jesse Helms.
Rating:
Summary: A fun book
Review: Having grown up with the Huntley-Brinkley report and watching them at all the conventions, I truly enjoyed this book. Especially interesting is how Brinkley trashes Jesse Helms.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining, enlightening, interesting read.
Review: I very much enjoyed reading David Brinkley's memoir. As pages turn, one can hear his voice as though he was reading aloud, complete with his trademark short sentences and his unique half-Southern and half-like-no-other accent (he explains this, by the way). I finished Walter Cronkite's fine book "A Reporter's Life" a while back, and found a number of parallels since obviously they are of the same topics and era. But Brinkley's was even more fun to read in my humble opinion -- his dry wit comes across perfectly, and it's just very entertaining and enlightening. A fascinating, fast-paced read.
Rating:
Summary: David Brinkley, a rambling book
Review: I was quite excited to get David Brinkley's book, as I have enjoyed his newscasts for years, particularly the early conventions. As it turns out, this is a "Chatty-Cathy" book that rambles on about his life, with his TV persona somewhat as an afterthought. The book is quite readable with his enjoyable laconic style, but at the end, you don't know much more about him, TV, the process of TV news, or the events to which he was an eyewitness....at least not more than you already knew or could surmise.
The book was a pleasant interlude, but somewhat a bit of froth
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