Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism

It is hard to beat a short biography, on an individual of great historical interest, someone who shaped the media as we experience it today, read by the author, and the author is a radio personality himself. That is the package we have with "Edward R Murrow ..." This audio book is a breezy biography, not an in-depth review of Murrow & his times, but neither does it drift downwards into the superficiality that is often found in books of this category. I completed the book knowing quite a bit more about Murrow & about his importance & his influence & his struggles. And I completed it wanting to know more about him. There are a number of good, lengthy biographies of Murrow & I plan to sample at least one of them. Now, this book does not get the full complement of 5 stars for two reasons. The first is my feeling, perhaps unfair, that the author could & should have written a book that was 50% or 100% longer, because this one simply does not satisfy sufficiently. It is good for the length it is, read well, well organized & so forth. The second is that at the very end it descends into a sort of fawning rhapsody, just the last 10-15 minutes, that was irritating. Nevertheless, given the subject matter, momentum & outstanding narration, I recommend the audio book very highly.

Let me start by agreeing with the that Murrow was one of a kind, arriving at a time that allowed his type of reportage and innovation,
neither of which would have flowered in today's media.
I found this book of great interest and it managed to whet my appetite for more. There can be no doubt from the book of the author's negative view of today's media, but this is limited to the last half-hour or so. I would have preferred a longer book that went
into more detail, including more on his life before radio, but generally I can heartily recommend this book on a man of more parts than I realized. Some of Murrow's work is included, from old recordings, and this too is a bonus, though again I would have wished for more examples-if they exist!

I'm guessing that the movie "Goodnight and Good Luck" was based on this book. It's thorough and engaging -- a must for anyone who's not familiar with this period of history. Not just about radio journalism, but aldo about politics, integrity and human foibles, it is wonderfully narrated by the author (which doesn't often work). Those of us who miss Bob on NPR in the mornings, will smile while being educated and entertained.

This book is about Murrow- not so much what he accomplished in his career or his epic and important battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy which is but a couple paragraphs (you just have to watch Good Night and Good Luck) this is more about where he was born and where he went to school and what friends he had and so forth- Exactly all the things that was NOT interested in. There are very few quotes from Murrow himself and the ones they chose were mostly odd at best. Only get this book if you only care about his objective history

There was a bit of Murrow in war correspondence and that was nice- I wish there was more of the man himself talking or at least being quoted

Well written and very good use of some original broadcast recordings of Murrow. I was concerned that the book may be a bit slow, but it moves along well and always held my interest.