Rating: 
Summary: Aspiring Political Journalists--
Review: read "This Just In." Bob Schieffer's book is an excellent account of the struggles encountered in a reporter's rise to broadcast journalism. It is also a good re-cap of the years spanning from JFK's assassination to the nightmare of September Eleven.Schieffer will briefly introduce you to Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush II. The stories he tells go the gambit from titalating to tragic. Case in point: When Schieffer asks President Nixon if he will be using outside help or in-house advisors, Nixon responds, "On this one, I want plenty of outhouse advisors." On a sad yet heroic note, Schieffer reveals why Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. Bob Schieffer's fourty year journey from small-town columnist to host of Face the Nation is an entertaining and insightful look at a reporter's life. Don't miss it, especially if you are an aspiring journalist. This book will either further inspire you or make you change majors.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice guy- great journalist- Imus friend
Review: It is -25 degrees here in New Hampshire-so this is a good time to read...Bob Schieffer is a nice guy, great journalist- knows his stuff-friend of Imus, and he tells his story with the best of them. He starts out with his life in Texas, and a few stories of LBJ and then moves on to the rest of the story. He talks about his life, his profession and the people he has met. He has been in the right place at the right time. His book tour revealed all of the stories he has to tell that reflect upon his long career and his climb up the journalism ladder. He interjects personal stories, and comes across as the person he appears to be. A life well led. prisrob
Rating:
Summary: Impartial, Good Reading
Review: This book proved to be impartial and informative good reading. I expected more political bias, especially considering the environment the past couple years, but it was refreshingly free of that. In a few areas where controversial things were discussed, it was handled in a level-headed manner. This is an easy way to get a bird's-eye view of political coverage over the past 40 years. Very refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining!
Review: If you liked the memoirs of Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and Dan Rather, so too will you like CBS News and "Face the Nation" veteran Bob Schieffer's "This Just In". It is chocked full of historical anecdotes of national issues, national politics and TV news gossip. Like the other reporters mentioned, while maybe they themselves are not worthy of a memoir, the sheer volume of historical events they witnessed is. Schieffer's style is entertaining, homespun, honest, reflective and intelligent, and he has most definitely kept his ego in check. Schieffer shares his experiences during JFK's assassination, LBJ, Vietnam, Nixon, Carter, the 2000 election, and Sept 11. I would estimate the book is 75% insight to Washington and national events and 25% insight into the author and CBS News. Schieffer provides enough personal information and history for his audience to get to know him, but that is less for grandstanding than for helping his audience to understand his background in order to understand how he interprets events. He truly enjoys and respects his work and subjects and it clearly shows in his memoirs. And never have I found a book's acknowledgements and source notes so entertaining!
Rating:
Summary: Reassuring and engaging, just like the author
Review: From the first page to the last, I could hear the warm, Texas cadence of Bob Schieffer's voice. While I have lived through most of the history, much of what he said was new to me. I found the history of White House politics and the press very enlightening. And his stint as a reporter in Viet Nam, gave me a clearer picture of just what the young men of my generation had to deal with. Bob Schieffer demonstrates in the book that reporters are just as vulnerable to the foibles of life as we are. While his career was most prominent in his life, the needs of his family, in the end won out. He takes us into the broadcast booth with him where we find people who worked for four days in 9/11, producers who sat under his desk feeding him page after page of the Starr report and where on election night 2000, the networks themselves set the stage for the most bizarre night ever on TV. We are with him in Dallas, Viet Nam and on the courthouse steps of a sleepy 1960 Fort Worth. Throughout the entire book Schieffer, in his modest, warm and humorous way takes us on a forty year journey through an America that has reinvented itself over and over, only to come full circle on a viewing platform at Ground Zero.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: This book deserves a very high rating, but it will be most appreciated by readers who have been interested in politics
for quite a few years. The author, Bob Schieffer, has been
reporting for what seems like a long time, and some of his funniest, revealing stories happened early in his career. One of
his oddest happened the day JFK was shot; he was then a reporter
on the big Ft.Worth daily paper, and he got a call from Oswald's
mother, asking for a ride to Dallas. Yes, he was surprised, and
he still has no explanation why such a call was made to the newspaper. But, being a young, gung-ho reporter, he immediately
got a car and took her to the Dallas jail where Lee Harvey was being held, all in the hope of course of getting a nice interview.
But he concluded the Oswald mother wasn't quite mentally
100%, so he worked his reporter magic and got into a room with
Oswald's wife, hoping for an interview with her. Then it turned out
Maria could only speak Russian! His big break wasn't going anywhere, then an FBI agent finally asked him who he was with,
and he was finally thrown out. All without any real story.
And his early days were filled with stories like that, and he relates
them with humor and warmth.
He is almost a throwback, when the men and woman on TV were
real reporters and journalists, so what we usually see on TV now
is a shallow image of what we used to get.
Schieffer also shows considerable honesty by admitting that
most political reporters do, in fact, have personal views and prejudices that sometimes creep into their reporting and commentaries. Most TV people refuse to admit such an obvious
fact, and Schieffer deserves credit for telling the truth.
He is from a Democrat family in Texas, and he married a woman
from a prominent Ft.Worth Democrat family, and those facts have
to color his thoughts at times. And, somewhat oddly in view of
his concern for honesty, he admits that the Presidents he personally liked most were LBJ and Clinton, the 2 most sleazy,
self-centered, dishonest men to ever hold that office. But he also
says he always liked Ford, and he has to admit that his admiration
for Clinton became more diminished as time went on.
But Schieffer has been among the most thoughtful, and most
traveled, reporters with CBS, and he relates stories from most hot
spots in the world, and some of his most interesting stories are
from his days of being the Congressional correspondent, as well
as his days as Pentagon correspondent. He worked with nearly
everyone in both places, and his observations are all but amazing
against today's backdrop of high concern for security. You need
to read about the time when he could just walk into the Pentagon
without question, and he relates he didn't even bother to get press
credentials for a long time, because they weren't needed in those
days.
You can gain some nice insights from reading of all the hours he
spent waiting in the White House press room, and his relationships with various staff members connected with several Administrations.
He also relates several stories about his family relationships and
how difficult they were to handle along with his very demanding
job. Read about his work schedule when he was constantly flying back and forth between Washington, DC and N.Y., and most of
us will wonder how in the world he managed to keep up. He has
put in tremendous hours and effort trying to get the best story
and supporting the others at CBS, and it shows here.
For "political junkies," this is an absolute must. And if you are interested in charting some of the changes in the concept of
journalism, here is a good source.
Schieffer's writing style reflects his training in old-fashioned reporting, where every word counted, and his stories just flow
on from one funny story to another, fascinating, story. His personal interest in getting the facts, and the best stories, show
here, and this is a fun and easy book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Aspiring Political Journalists--
Review: read "This Just In." Bob Schieffer's book is an excellent account of the struggles encountered in a reporter's rise to broadcast journalism. It is also a good re-cap of the years spanning from JFK's assassination to the nightmare of September Eleven. Schieffer will briefly introduce you to Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush II. The stories he tells go the gambit from titalating to tragic. Case in point: When Schieffer asks President Nixon if he will be using outside help or in-house advisors, Nixon responds, "On this one, I want plenty of outhouse advisors." On a sad yet heroic note, Schieffer reveals why Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. Bob Schieffer's fourty year journey from small-town columnist to host of Face the Nation is an entertaining and insightful look at a reporter's life. Don't miss it, especially if you are an aspiring journalist. This book will either further inspire you or make you change majors.
Rating:
Summary: Extra details
Review: This book by Bob Schieffer (on audio from Recorded Books) is an interesting account of details held back from many of the major news stories since the JFK murder of 1963. That event was the starting point for Schieffer's work and it started with a lucky break for a young man working at a Ft. Worth, Texas newspaper that Autumn day. From that moment til some heart felt memories of the 9/11 tragedy, Schieffer shares some of the high and low points of his 40 year journalist career. He observed the news and the news makers and collected stories and memories, many of which remained untold until today. As someone with a small career in broadcast journalism, I especially enjoyed this work. For someone unfamiliar with the ins and outs of journalism, this book will be a delight. He moves from the shooting of JFK, to the downing of Robert Kennedy, to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, to the campus civil unrest of the 60s, Vietnam and presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush...as well as the horrors of 9-11-01. Along the way he speaks candidly about many of the other newsmakers he met and befriended during his long career. These sniplets give the reader a little more appreciation for the quirks of many politicians and others in the news. The copy moves along swiftly as Schieffer ( pronounced She-fer) read his own book in this audio version. His voice was so familiar after many years with CBS it was as though I had the TV on. This is a book about news though he does take the time to be personal with a few comments about his wife, Pat and their two daughters and the struggles they faced as he moved about as a CBS reporter from Texas to Washington to New York and back to Washington. You will see the human side of a man we perhaps only recognize as that "guy on TV". It is a delightful book.
Rating:
Summary: Like spending an evening listening and learning
Review: From start to finish, Bob Schieffer, in his gentle way, sits us down and tells us what it was like over the last 40 plus years. From his early days as a Texas newspaperman finding himself in the company of Mrs. Oswald the day Kennedy was shot, to being sent to cover the war in Vietnam, then finally joining CBS TV and covering all aspects of Washingon from Watergate through the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, he was there and his reportage then and his insight now gives us a greater understanding of what has been going on in the world over these four decades. His plum assignments at CBS kept him at the center of action: covering the presidential campaigns, the White House, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, even the war in the Falkland Islands, and now continuing his moderating chores on Face The Nation which he began in 1991. The subtitle of this book is "What I Couldn't Tell You On TV," and he keeps that promise with many anecdotes that haven't been widely reported before this book. He also describes the movers and shakers of the U.S. during this period. He got to meet and know them all and he shares his thoughts on such as Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Laird, Cronkite, Rather, the list goes on and on, even includes Agnew. His take on the changes that have infuenced political races, the Congress, and network TV, and what happened when CBS TV and everybody else blew it on election night 2000 makes for fascinating reading and gourmet food for thought. Throughout the book he gives us stories of his personal life and glimpses of his day-to-day working routines to give us a feel of what it is like to be a reporter at the center of activity. This is a fine book. On a few occasions he breaks from his chronological telling of the story, and I found that momentarily confusing. And a few more dates sprinkled in would have been helpful. But, I'm ready to sit down again and hear more of the adventures in journalism from this gentleman and scholar.
Rating:
Summary: Newsies Rejoice!
Review: The casual reader may not follow or care about the "behind the scenes" world of a successful broadcast journalist, but for those who do...this book is a fast and enjoyable read. The author communicates with wit, humor and humility..a real gentleman with an opinion, but without ever being boring or partisan. Truly a role model for up and comers. The chapters get better and better, perhaps because of the recent nature of current events. His take on Bill Clinton, the man and the politician, is the most honest and best presented I have seen.
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