Product Description

Harry Reasoner was one of the most trusted and well-liked journalists of the golden age of network television news. Whether anchoring the evening newscast on CBS in the 1960s or on ABC in the 1970s, providing in-depth reporting on "60 Minutes", or hosting numerous special programs covering civil rights struggles, the Vietnam War, and Watergate, Reasoner had 'that almost mystical quality it seems to take for good television reporting, exuding this atmosphere of truth and believability', in the words of Walter Cronkite. Yet his reassuring manner and urbane, often witty, on-air persona masked a man who was far more complex and contradictory. Though gifted with the intelligence and drive to rise to the top of his profession, Reasoner was regarded by many colleagues as lazy and self-indulgent, a man who never achieved his full potential despite his many accomplishments. "Harry Reasoner: A Life in the News" covers the entire sweep of this enigmatic journalist's life and career.Douglass K. Daniel opens with Reasoner's Depression-era Midwestern upbringing and follows him through his early work in newspapers and radio before he joined CBS in 1956. Focusing on Reasoner's thirty-five-year tenure in television news, Daniel presents fascinating, behind-the-scenes accounts of Reasoner's key role in founding the top-rated newsmagazine "60 Minutes". He also explores Reasoner's highly publicized move to ABC in 1970, where he anchored the nightly newscast, first with Howard K. Smith and later with Barbara Walters - a disastrous pairing from which Reasoner's career never fully recovered. Based on scores of interviews and unpublished letters, memos, and other primary sources, this first biography of the man once rated second in credibility only to Walter Cronkite illuminates an entire era in broadcast journalism, as well as many of the unique personalities, from Andy Rooney to Mike Wallace, who made that era distinctive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1418665 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 292 pages

About the Author
DOUGLASS K. DANIEL is a writer and editor with the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. A journalist for more than twenty-five years, Daniel has also taught reporting at Kansas State University and Ohio University. He is the author of Lou Grant: The Making of TV's Top Newspaper Drama.

Customer Reviews

An in-depth look at America's most avuncular newsman
I remember watching 60 Minutes and other news shows when I was a kid and always perking up when Harry Reasoner came on. He was wry and warm, friendly and humorous, but always a newsman first and foremost. He's certainly worthy of a thorough biography, and I'm glad that someone as focused and astute as this writer rose to the occasion while there were still plenty of people alive who knew Reasoner well. I think Doug Daniel must have interviewed all of them, yet he managed to shape his voluminous research into a coherent story of a life purposefully but not perfectly lived. You'll find this book particularly fascinating if you're curious about the glory days of network news, an era fast disappearing in the digital age.

A great read
This energetic, entertaining biography serves as more than the life story of journalist Harry Reasoner. It can also be read as a social history of the heyday of network news, and the powerhouse that was CBS News in particular. A fascinating and well-crafted narrative of an imperfect man and his imperfect profession.

Reasoner book offers a window into new biz
Daniel's book on Harry Reasoner works very well on two levels. It tells the story of a talented newsman who sometimes coasted on his skills and was almost destroyed by drinking.
And it tells the story of broadcast news in its glory days, including the formative days of "60 Minutes."

A terrific read.