Book Review: We Interrupt This Broadcast with 3 CDs

 

This is more than just the facts, ma’am. We Interrupt This Broadcast with 3 CDs chronicles those sometimes unexpected and always historic events that took our breath away as individuals and as a nation. Spanning seventy years, from the devastating Hindenburg explosion in 1937 right up to the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre atrocity, We Interrupt This Broadcast * looks more deeply at forty two of the most pivotal stories behind the newsflash.

The addition of 3 audio CD recordings of the original news broadcasts that accompany this book take an already absorbing read to a new level. Suddenly you have a living breathing historical record of those jaw dropping events, both tragedies and triumphs, in your hands.

There’s commentary by Bill Kurtis, a well respected media figure with three decades of journalistic experience under his belt, woven into the audio of each of the original newsflashes. These are arranged in chronological order with their track and disc number helpfully displayed on each story’s page. You can listen while you read the absorbing details of the tumultuous event that unfolded.

Authored by Joe Garner, described as “a 20 year veteran in the radio business” and also a New York Times bestselling author, We Interrupt This Broadcast is a very carefully constructed tome. Mr. Garner’s expertise on media coverage of major news and sporting stories shines through. He delivers the heart of a story in a concise, clear fashion yet without leaving any knowledge gaps about what led up to it and the ultimate outcome. To encapsulate all that within a few pages is impressive.

At just under 200 pages, this book also demonstrates throughout the not insubstantial influence on our lives the press has and the responsibility that can fall on the shoulders of any live reporter at any given moment. A very thoughtful foreword by the famous industry veteran broadcaster Walter Cronkite highlights this and his own personal experience of having to announce the tragic death of JFK to the viewers.

We Interrupt This Broadcast is a beautifully crafted comprehensive slice of history. To attach the simple label of a book feels inadequate. The incorporation of monochrome photographs relating to each story stir the mind and the heart into recall. This heightens the already profound audio impact this large hardback has.

More than once I found myself shedding tears when memories rushed back of hearing the original news first time round. That’s the tremendous effect the combination of Mr. Garner’s words on the page, the audio and the visuals, had on me. The book is very emotive but then it should be to remind us all, especially those who weren’t even born when these enormous life changing events happened, of where society has been and what shaped the world they live in today both on a national and international level.

History need not be dry as dust. We Interrupt This Broadcast is too important a book not to be shared in classrooms and by librarians worldwide. It should be required reading for upcoming generations and has “classic” stamped all over it.

The book, published by Sourcebooks MediaFusion, is undoubtedly a testament to one of the greatest gifts the US has – the freedom of the press. In this digital age, its presentation style exemplifies what may well be the shape of things to come in both bookstores and classrooms. I hope so because I couldn’t put it down. I’ve gained a new respect for the role a serious journalist plays in telling it like it is under what can be the most arduous and triumphant of circumstances.

We Interrupt This Broadcast with 3 CDs displays journalism at its finest, no matter whether the world itself is at its best or worst. You can find this edition at Amazon.com and other leading book retailers.

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*Note: We Interrupt This Broadcast with 3 CDs: The Events That Stopped Our Lives…from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Virginia Tech Shooting is the book’s full title but for ease of reading, I’ve referred to it as We Interrupt This Broadcast mostly for the purposes of this review. – Kay.

Kay Elizabeth is the Editor/Owner of The Cuckleburr Times and always loves to hear from visitors here. Use the Contact Us anytime or comment!  You can also visit Kay’s blog at Hill Holler.

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