A Long Way from Home : Growing Up in the American Heartland

Rating:
Summary: You will learn much about Tom Brokaw --- and life in general
Review: Just as my parents turned to Walter Cronkite to bring them the news when I was growing up, I have turned to Tom Brokaw. Through numerous presidential elections, world crises and the horrific days surrounding 9/11, his coverage has been the one I tuned to. To me, Brokaw has a way of delivering the news that makes it seem like a conversation among friends --- with a tone that has feeling and emotion, as well as authority.

A couple of years ago at an AOL Partners Conference, Brokaw was a guest speaker. He had just finished covering the funerals of Lady Di and Mother Teresa, traveling to both from his vacation at his home in Montana. His stories about two long trips to report on these high-profile events back-to-back gave new perspective on the high price that being in the news spotlight carries. His talk was personal as he referenced how the Internet has changed the way we receive news and what it --- and cable --- have done to the relevance of the kind of news he has delivered for the past couple of decades --- network news. Later I heard him moderate a panel about this same subject in the city with some leading journalists from Time, CNN and TheStreet.com. He was the consumate host, approaching the evening's discussion with one caveat. We would be finished by 8:00 as the Yankees were playing in the Playoffs and he was not going to miss the game on television. Sports, which brought him such joy when he was growing up, continue to be a passion.

While Brokaw is great to watch from the studio in New York, the pieces that he has done in Montana and South Dakota have been some of my favorites. He always seems more in his element there in the Heartland than he does standing or sitting at an anchor desk in New York. As he walks along a mountain ridge or a street in a small midwestern town doing an interview or a color piece, it is clear that his home and his history in South Dakota mean a lot to him.

Reading A LONG WAY FROM HOME: Growing Up in the American Heartland I see why. It's a memoir of the days before Brokaw left South Dakota to travel the country as a reporter, and then as a national media personality. What shaped him was a childhood in this desolate part of the country where success was measured on honest work and a God-fearing life.

One interesting note --- while television was available in most major cities by the mid-'40s, it did not find its way to South Dakota until the early '50s. News in this part of the country came from radio --- where the weather report led the news since it would affect everyone's livelihood, farming. He would watch David Garroway on the Today Show with his mom, not knowing that someday he would have that same anchor seat. He writes how his mom would comment on his broadcasts with the seasoned eye of someone who had watched the show for years before her son took over.

With a gift of gab from the time he was a young boy, Brokaw gave his first public speech at age four --- it began with "They said I was too young to speak a piece tonight" --- a line he still remembers. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Throughout the book he references friends from over the years, and how they have influenced his life. For all his celebrity there were a lot of stories about how he has woven his past and present lives together, asking old childhood friends to join him at events like the Olympics and other special athletic championships. This is a man who has moved on, but still remains connected to the place that raised him. He and his wife Meredith returned to South Dakota to celebrate their 40th Anniversary last summer. As a man who could afford to celebrate this event anywhere he chose, it is fitting that he returned to his roots for this.

The basic values are referred to again and again. His mom taught him and his brothers to handle household chores such as basic cooking, ironing and shopping, as well as guiding him in building self-confidence and getting a good education. At one point he mentions how he often will iron his own clothes in a hotel, rather than spend the time or money to call for valet service. His dad, Red, named for his flaming red hair, taught him the value of a hard day's work though he confesses he inherited none of his dad's handyman talent.

Brokaw does not glorify his early days. He spends a fair number of pages talking about his failures and what he did when his path went awry. There's a lot here for people to learn about Brokaw. At the same time there are some pretty strong lessons about mastering the basics in life.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

Rating:
Summary: A nostalgic look at a hard life
Review: Mr. Brokaw's book is a realistic look at the hard life experienced fy residents of the Plains during the depression years. The story of this difficult life is tempered by the writer's nostalgia for the strong human values with which the residents of this part of our country are imbued. WIthout the author even having to state it, he himself is obviously greatly affected by these values with which he was inculcated. The author writes with affection and love-- for a time which all Americans cherish, no matter where they were born, if they grew up with a strong family life.

Rating:
Summary: A Long Way From Home
Review: Review of Tom Brokaw's A Long Way From Home

Tom Brokaw's A Long Way From Home: Growing up in the American Heartland provides a fascinating look into the roots of one of America's most beloved television newsmen. Brokaw's story about his humble begins in rural South Dakota and the life lessons learned during his childhood delivers a theme of how the formative years will impact the rest of people's lives--no matter how far from home life takes them. Brokaw narrates how dependent all his life's successes have been on the values taught to him by his upbringing in the American heartland.
Brokaw begins his novel by telling the story of the evolution of his family since they settled in the South Dakota. He tells of great-grandfather's role in shaping the town of Bristol, SD and of his father's day's delivering coal and ice to support himself at age 10. The Great Depression's impact on both his father's and mother's lives is explained and is never forgotten, as it is a familiar theme throughout Brokaw's childhood.
The novel then moves on to the various stops in Brokaw's South Dakota childhood. From Igloo, the site of his first Public speaking performance, to Yankton where he graduated high school and landed his first broadcasting job. Along the way, Brokaw tells of childhood mischief and misadventures with his younger brothers and childhood friends in the great outdoors. Brokaw openly and honestly reveals his struggles with failure as young man after high school and the rocky relationship that developed into a marriage to the love of his life, Meredith Auld.
The issue of race and the importance of his mother also warrant entire chapters in the book. Brokaw explains his view of Native Americans as a child and of his realization the injustices done against them in his home state. Brokaw's mother, Jean Conely Brokaw, had the greatest influence on Tom's life. Her work ethic and even her political consciousness and news acquiring habits were passed on to her eldest son. Brokaw beautifully illustrates her role in his family and in his life.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with Brokaw's memoirs. I was expecting a soppy, romanticized version of his life, but it was definitely not that. The book is a page-turning, relatable collection of funny stories and life lessons.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: This book was written for simpletons by a simpleton. Reading from a teleprompter is not exactly brain surgery. But if you want to hear more from a self-important blowhard, then read this intriguing book about an egomaniac who pretends he doesn't have one. Seriously, there couldn't be a worse book.

Rating:
Summary: A Warm, Winning Memoir
Review: This informal memoir of Brokaw's formative years tell us much about the man who brings us the news today. The focus is on his parent's lives and the first twenty years of his own life; it's clear that this was the time and place that shaped the values that govern his life--integrity, honesty, a dedication to doing things right. Although the tone is warm and nostalgic throughout, Brokaw does not view the past exclusively through rose-colored glasses; he's quite frank about the discriminaton Native Americans have suffered in his homeland; and he's quite open about a period of his own youth when he strayed off the right path for a while. Casual, nostalgic....a great read!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This is an excellent and heartwarming book about growing up in South Dakota. Brokaw, easily the most intelligent, fair and personable of the network news anchors, goes into what made him what he is today -- growing up in America's heartland, the struggles of his father and mother, his life growing up, and his temporary descent into idiothood -- before pulling back and marrying his college sweetheart.

An excellent and highly literate book! I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes biographies.

Rating:
Summary: Plain and Fancy
Review: Tom Brokaw gives us a vivid recollection of his formative years and with that a history of the United States that flows well from page to page. But, Tom, we know you have made a wonderful life for yourself and do not really need to be reminded every third page. Next book, just write about Park Avenue, lovely, elegant trips and celebrities you have met. This book should have been kept to life in the heartland.

Rating:
Summary: Superficial
Review: Tom Brokaw may have always been a chatterbox, too bad he didn't have much to say. This book basically skims the surface of a child of the fifties. There are not many amusing anecdotes, not much detail, and no depth of feeling, and as a result not much to relate to. A disappointment because it could have been so much better, if the author would have dug a little deeper.

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Summary: Brokaw's Bio is Charming
Review: Tom Brokaw's humble beginnings are very nearly the same as thousands of sucessful transplanted midwesterners. We however, are not on the nightly news. I think his point in writing his memoirs was to emphasize that growing up how and where he did gave him the character and values that have stayed with him even while being a New Yorker. He writes in a very conversational tone, and in fact I would like to hear him read this book.

I've been writing down some memories of my childhood so that my son will know more about my origins. My story isn't all that much different from Brokaw's. And I absolutely identify with his honoring his family and the midwest.

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Summary: A simple pleasure...
Review: Veteran newscaster Brokaw made me weep with THE GREATEST GENERATION, so I had high hopes for this one. Undoubtedly, his essays are thoughtfully, honestly written and he is both a gentleman and a scholar. However, this work is often too self indulgent (as autobiographical works can be!) to evoke much emotion from the average reader. For example: It's hard to get too choked up over his financial struggles in the post-Depression midwest when, in the same sentence, he mentions negotiating a multi-million dollar contract or his sprawling Manhattan condo.

I look forward to adding more of Brokaw's works to my library, and hope he will devote a good portion of his upcoming retirement from the Nightly News to writing!