Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast

Rating:
Summary: Face the Nation
Review: Bob Schieffer, moderator of the last Presidential debate and moderator of Face the Nation, has written a second book of memories. In it, he recounts the successful CBS show "Face the Nation."

It is a good read. Unfortunately, there's not quite enough meat in it. The book is over almost before it began. It comes with a 2-hour DVD that I am planning on watching soon. I hope it includes some of the remarkable stories included in the book; the McCarthy interview, the Ali interview, and most importantly, the great Martin Luther King, Jr.

Schieffer has a natural gift to tell a story, and it's a worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Key National Events Seen through Face the Nation Interviews
Review: How do you write about one of the oldest television shows? Very selectively is the answer in the case of Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast.

As a result, this book will be most appealing to those who want to take one more look at McCarthy, Khrushchev, the early Castro, civil rights activism in the 60s, Vietnam, Pentagon papers, women in politics and journalism, Presidential primaries, Clinton v. Starr, domestic terrorism and the second Iraq war. The book is illustrated with many powerful and memorable photographs. In addition, the book comes with a 2 hours DVD which I have not watched (because I don't have a DVD player).

The book also has a brief section on the people who have worked on and for Face the Nation and a few of Bob Schieffer's commentaries.

I mainly read this book because I have great admiration for Bob Schieffer as a newsman and as a person. He is one of a handful of people in the business who seems to keep it all in perspective and takes a balanced view.

Unfortunately, the heyday of political interview shows was over a long time ago. Looking at the list of who the most frequent guests have been (Bob Dole, John McCain, Leon Panetta, Orrin Hatch, Joe Biden, Pat Buchanan, Joe Lieberman and Trent Lott lead the list), I can see why. I cannot imagine what the subject would have to be before I would have wanted to watch a show in which they were interviewed in depth. As a result, I haven't watched Face the Nation in decades . . . and probably won't watch it again. It's a sad commentary on the political arena and news coverage in general for me to draw that conclusion. I think that sense of the irrelevance of the show colors my four stars rating of the book.

On the other hand, Bob Schieffer is a five-stars person and I hope the book does well for him.

Rating:
Summary: ENJOYABLE AND INFORMATIVE
Review: This is a very enjoyable overview of the first fifty years of Face the Nation. It offers a number of "behind the scenes" looks at the show as well as the author's thoughts on the history and philosophy of the show.

The earlier anecdotes were fascinating--particularly the chapters describing the Castro, Kruschev and McCarthy interviews. Without a doubt, the most interesting for me was the Castro chapter which included a look at the professional tension between Ed Sullivan and Edward R. Murrow.

The book drifts a bit near the end, but, overall, it is delightful, informative and an easy read.