Product Description

An intimate, comprehensive portrait of the late, legendary journalist and news anchor in the words of his family, friends, and colleagues.

Peter Jennings was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death from cancer in 2005. For many Americans, he was the voice and face that gave shape and meaning to every day's news. But who was Peter Jennings really? In this absorbing biography, readers will get to know Jennings through the memories of his friends, family, competitors, colleagues, and interview subjects. Their stories are full of surprises. Jennings, we learn, was a high school dropout who spent the rest of his life in pursuit of knowledge. He traveled the world in search of stories, a notebook perpetually thrust through his back belt loop. In his front pocket, he carried a miniature copy of the Constitution, a testament to his love for the United States; a Canadian by birth, Jennings acquired American citizenship in 2003.

Peter Jennings was a celebrity, of course--a dashingly handsome and elegant man, famous for his ability to charm women and world leaders alike--but in these pages he is remembered as a loyal friend and a devoted family man, who loved nothing more than to canoe with his kids and listen to jazz with his friends in the Hamptons. Not that he was the relaxing sort. Jennings was a task-master, who ripped other reporters' pieces to shreds, forcing them to rewrite from the ground up. He was a perfectionist, too, who drove his fellow correspondents crazy with his adlibbed questions on the air. It was all about standards. Throughout his life, Peter Jennings was driven by a passion to seek the truth and convey that truth accurately, simply, cleanly, and elegantly to his American audience. He was our voice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #460328 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781586485177
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The bulk of the interviews in this oral history—co-edited by Sherr, his colleague at ABC News, freelance book editor Darnton, and Jennings's widow—were conducted in the days immediately following the anchorman's death from lung cancer in August 2005. Friends and fellow reporters retrace every step of his career, starting with his first jobs in Canadian radio to his coverage of major events like the 9/11 attacks. When he was just 26, he was hired by ABC to anchor the evening news, a job he himself would later admit he was simply unqualified for at the time. So he demanded to be sent out into the field as a foreign correspondent, building up his experience until he became what Ted Koppel calls a complete package as a journalist: smart, attractive and graceful under pressure. The tone of the interviews is predictably positive: even the criticism that he allowed ABC's ratings to slip by refusing to devote more airtime to O.J. Simpson's murder trial is immediately followed by praise for his expanded coverage of the Bosnian genocide. Sections on his personal life along with testimonials from statesmen like Bill Clinton and Colin Powell flesh out the portrait, reminding readers of the commanding presence Jennings held over broadcast journalism. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"A loving look at the man and his calling. For that alone it's a great read." -- Naples Daily News, October 18, 2007

"A very good lauding of [Jennings's] life and his work...news junkies and current-events mavens will enjoy." -- Pahrump Valley Times, November 7, 2007

About the Author

Customer Reviews

The Other Peter Jennings
Because I knew Peter Jennings pretty well away from the office, I hesitated to read this book. Peter was such a funny, irreverent, and loving guy. I wondered if a book mainly by his professional cohorts--especially one done so quickly after his death--could convey that funny, irreverent and loving side.

Well, it can, and it does. This book makes Peter so human, and so fragile in the best sense of the word. If you were a watcher (and better yet, a real listener) of Peter's art, this book will really touch you, and make you wish you had known this side of Peter when he was around.

People like this don't come around very often, and neither do books.

A Fascinating Read
Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life is for everyone who watched Peter Jennings on the air and wants to know more about him. What was he like to work with? What went on behind the scenes at ABC News? Did he ever let his hair down? Was he difficult to work with? What was he like as a husband and father and friend? What values and principals did he live by and impart to his family, colleagues, protégés? The book manages to weave a narrative from compelling first-person anecdotes that put the reader right into Jennings' incredible life and drive, and tells us that when he was dying he did not feel sorry for himself because he knew he had lived life well. I loved reading the frank accounts from a wide range of people, well-known and not, including excerpts from his children's moving eulogies.

An excellent tribute to the James Bond of broadcasting
"Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life" is not a typical biography. The contents of the book were taken from more than 80 interviews conducted shortly after Peter's death in August 2005. In their own words, Peter's colleagues, family, and friends share their perspectives on what the ABC News legend was like as a reporter and as a man.

This book chronicles Peter's career from the beginning to the end, including his childhood radio program, his first unsuccessful stint in the ABC News anchor chair, his experiences as a foreign correspondent, and his lengthy tenure with "World News Tonight." In addition to exploring Peter's professional life, the interviews in the book also shed light on what he was like as a person. Highlights include stories about Peter's Canadian upbringing, his commitment to help the homeless population in New York City, his sense of humor, his love of America, his devotion to his family and friends, and his battle with the lung cancer that ultimately took his life.

Much of the information in this book was included in the ABC News special "Peter Jennings: Reporter," which aired shortly after the anchor's death. However, there are many more interviews in the book that never made it to the air, and I learned a lot about Peter that I didn't know before. There are some really great stories included in the book: some are serious, some are poignant, and some are downright hysterical. I think my favorite bit is the tale about how Peter acquired most of the ties in his collection by taking them away from their original owners...he even took a tie off Michael Dukakis during an interview that was conducted in the heat of the presidential campaign. Too funny!

I think that everyone who reads this book will come away with a favorable opinion of Peter. The organization of the book is such that the reader gets a great overall picture of Peter's character based on the observations from many of the people who knew him best. He was an amazing reporter and also a wonderful person, and he was taken from this world much too soon. Still, he left an incredible legacy behind, and hopefully young journalists will read this book and come away with a better understanding of what it takes to be a truly excellent reporter. Peter was probably the best there ever was, and he will never be forgotten.