Wise, rueful, candid, graceful commentaries from one of
journalism’s most stylish and respected
writers.
With his critically acclaimed
bestselling memoir, This Just In, Bob Schieffer
proved a natural storyteller, a gifted writer able to
capture current affairs, television news—and himself—with
remarkable wit and insight. It is a gift he has also been
able to bring to his awardwinning commentaries for Face
the Nation.
No one had done commentaries for CBS
since Eric Sevareid’s retirement in 1977, when, in April
1994, Schieffer decided his show that week on the death of
Richard Nixon needed a few closing words to put the subject
into context. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and
he has been doing them ever since.
Bob
Schieffer’s America brings together 168 of his best
essays, pieces that cover a broad range: from the hard
issues of today to the human stories that show us who we
are; from politics and presidents and tragedy to the things
that touch us, make us laugh, or reveal the small shifts in
our culture that sometimes just creep up on us.
Smart, humorous, commonsensical, pitch-perfect—sometimes
bitingly critical and plainspoken, other times suffused with
wonder or delight—these essays speak to us all.
“My
objective,” says Schieffer, “has never been to convert
someone to my way of thinking, but merely to provoke
thought, to explain a complicated subject, or to call
attention to a human foible. The greatest compliment to me
is not when viewers write to say they agree with my
conclusion, but when they say, ‘I really never thought of it
that way before.’”
In addition to these outstanding
essays, Schieffer has written a wealth of brand-new
material—“commentaries on my commentaries”—that run
throughout the book, offering further anecdotes,
reflections, updates, and insights. In all, it is as Jim
Lehrer described This Just In: “A delight, a joy—a
treasure.”