“Weller rivetingly recounts these gutsy ladies' time on the front lines... an inspiration for future generations of journalists.†--Vanity FairFor decades; women battered the walls of the male fortress of television journalism. After fierce struggles; three women—Diane Sawyer; Katie Couric; and Christiane Amanpour—broke into the newsroom’s once impenetrable “boys’ club.†These women were not simply pathbreakers; but wildly gifted journalists whose unique talents enabled them to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and transform the way Americans received their news.Drawing on exclusive interviews with their colleagues and intimates from childhood on; The News Sorority crafts a lively and exhilarating narrative that reveals the hard struggles and inner strengths that shaped these women and powered their success. Life outside the newsroom—love; loss; child rearing—would mark them all; complicating their lives even as it deepened their convictions and instincts. Life inside the newsroom would include many nervy decisions and back room power plays previously uncaptured in any media account. Taken together; Sawyer’s; Couric’s; and Amanpour’s lives as women are here revealed not as impediments but as keys to their success.Raised in Louisville; Kentucky; Diane Sawyer was a young woman steering her own unique political course in a time of societal upheaval. Her fierce intellect; almost insuperable work ethic; and sophisticated emotional intelligence would catapult Sawyer from being the first female on-air correspondent for 60 Minutes; to presenting anchoring the network flagship ABC World News. From her first breaks as a reporter all the way through her departure in 2014; Sawyer’s charisma and drive would carry her through countless personal and professional changes.Katie Couric; always conveniently underestimated because of her “girl-next-door†demeanor; brazened her way through a succession of regional TV news jobs until she finally hit it big. In 1991; Couric became the cohost of Today; where; over the next fifteen years; she transformed the “female†slot from secondary to preeminent while shouldering devastating personal loss. Couric’s greatest triumph—and most bedeviling challenge—was at CBS Evening News; as the first woman to solo-anchor a nighttime network news program. Her contradictions—seriously feminist while proudly sorority-girlish—made her beyond easy typecasting; and as original as she is relatable.A glamorous; unorthodox cosmopolite—raised in pre-revolution Iran amid royalty and educated in England—Christiane Amanpour would never have been picked out of a lineup as a future war reporter; until her character flourished on catastrophic soil: her family’s exile during the Iranian Revolution. Once she knew her calling; Amanpour shrewdly made a virtue of her outsider status; joining the fledgling CNN on the bottom rung and then becoming its “face;†catalyzing its rise to global prominence. Amanpour’s fearlessness in war zones would make her the world’s witness to some of its most acute crises and television’s chief advocate for international justice.Revealing the tremendous combination of ambition; empathy; and skill that empowered Sawyer; Couric; and Amanpour to reach stardom; The News Sorority is a detailed story of three very particular lives and a testament to the extraordinary character of women everywhere.
#883899 in Books Richard Overy 2015-04-28 2015-04-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.38 x 1.36 x 5.42l; 1.00 #File Name: 0143126245592 pagesThe Bombers and the Bombed Allied Air War Over Europe 1940 1945
Review
83 of 85 people found the following review helpful. The Allied part of the storyBy Chris SterlingTwo things are important here: (1) Richard Overy is a (indeed; probably THE) consummate historian of the air war of 1939-45; and (2) this American edition is 300 pages shorter than the original British publication. Overy marshals an amazing amount of information from all sides; melding it into perhaps the best assessment of what was claimed by the RAF and USAAF; what worked--and what did not. There is no other better source for that story.So why only three stars? Because the American publisher made an inexplicable decision to eliminate fully a third of the original book! Published as THE BOMBING WAR: EUROPE 1939-45 by Allen Lane (Penguin) in Britain in 2013; Overy's intent was to cover BOTH the German use of bombing against Britain; as well as the Allied air campaigns; first by the RAF and later the Combined Operation of both Allied air forces. He drew invaluable comparisons of the two efforts. But the entire first part of the original book (dealing with German's attack on Britain) is totally missing in action here.So what to do? If your interest centers on the Allied campaign; buy this edition. But if you want the fuller story that assesses how Germany lost the "first" air war of 1939-41 (and its later 1944-45 attempts); and then compares and critiques the efforts of both sides; purchase the (pricier) English edition. In any case; you don't need both!151 of 158 people found the following review helpful. Not the same book published in EnglandBy am52userThe U.S. edition of this book is significantly different from the first edition published in England. It's missing the first four chapters and Chapter 10. It also appears to have split Chapter 6 in the UK edition into two chapters. Why? The UK edition has 880 pages; the US edition 592 pages. Shame on Viking Press. Buy the English edition and shun this one.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. An Interesting Account Of The Air War Over GermanyBy Jeffrey T. MunsonAuthor Richard Overy has written an extremely thorough and detailed work about the Allied bombing effort over Europe in World War II. Although I hear that this edition is somewhat shorter than the one published in the U.K.; I still found "The Bombers And The Bombed" to be an informative source about the air war in Europe.Rather than focusing on accounts of individual raids; Overy's approach was to look at the bombing campaign as a whole and focus on the effects to industry; the Axis war effort; and civilians. At the beginning of the war; both sides tried to be scrupulous in their bombing; avoiding civilians at all costs. This proved to be almost impossible. As the war progressed; both sides quickly abandoned this strategy; first at the Battle of Britain; and then as the Americans and British began their attacks on Germany and the occupied countries.The British favored the concept of "area bombing"; which showed little regard for civilians; while the American 8th air force concentrated on daylight precision bombing of military targets. However; the American tactics still resulted in civilian casualties due to bad weather; poor aiming; and other factors.The occupied countries of France; Italy; and the Low Countries suffered greatly as well as the Allied bombers strove to destroy German industry being used in these areas. Civilians suffered greatly as "friendly" bombs fell on their homes and places of work.Overy's work does a fine job of explaining the concept of strategic bombing along with the concept of humanity. Was it "humane" to bomb cities in the hopes of destroying enemy factories; or was it inhuman due to the large number of civilian casualties? Some call the civilian casualties the cost of total war; while others have seen them as unnecessary. Overy describes both points of view in his book.I highly recommend "The Bombers And The Bombed". Granted; this edition may be shorter than the original; but it still does a fine job of tackling the concept of strategic bombing and civilian casualties.
