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Friday, September 08, 2006
Shock! Amazement!
Title: Between You and Me
Author: Mike Wallace
A non-fiction, legitimate book! Don’t y’all go dying of shock on me…
Mike Wallace, that reporter you all know from 60 Minutes, has had the privilege of talking with what must be thousands of interesting, prominent people, starting with his first interview show in the 50’s and continuing through today, though he has a greatly reduced role at 60 Minutes, only contributing occasionally.
The book is subtitled “a memoir” but the focus is more on the really interesting interviews he’s done. You can glean a bit of detail about his life from the context he gives each of the interview subjects, but it’s not chronological, since they’re grouped by type more than date.
It shows the amazing amount of leeway he’s had, being one of few interviewers to actually challenge his subjects in the early days of television, not being afraid of their reactions, even when it was someone ridiculously powerful, like the Shah of Iran. He’s been friends with an impressive group, knowing Nancy Davis since before she married Ronald Reagan, befriending several presidential couples, and even being the object of a crush from Shirley MacLaine.
For someone who wasn’t even alive when two-thirds of his work took place, this memoir is a brilliant summary of the more significant events and people, some who I’ve only briefly heard of, and this provides some insight into the inner workings.
And for those of you who aren’t so into reading (why are you here?), the book also includes a dvd with clips of several of the interviews, including the more provocative statements made by either Wallace or the interviewees. Very neat.Labels: biography, non-fiction
posted by ket at
9:49 PM
1 Comments:
Er...can I borrow this? Or is t a libary book that you've already returned? Sounds fascinating!
9/09/2006 4:20 PM
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