With 736 pages to read, I almost did not start reading this fabulously informative book. For someone like me who is now 69 years of age, it developed that once I started the book I could not put it down. It was extremely engrossing to learn how close the print and communications industry have been to our political leaders throughout the years. For me however, it was especially a marvelous insight into what was really going on during the period I was in law school (1962-1965) and when I served in the U.S. Army (1966-1968), a time period that fully absorbed all my time and demanded all my attention away from the Media industry. I only wish all of us had enough time to read such information contemporaneously to the events covered in this book. In any event I do agree with all of the 4 book reviews which precede mine.

As a reviewer, this book tears me apart. On the one hand, it's a thumping great read. On the other hand, it's a complete waste of time. And it's a thumping great read, in large part, BECAUSE it is a complete waste of time.

Halberstam had a long and highly successful career as a reporter at The New York Times. It should therefore go without saying (these days you can't be sure) that Halberstam is a good writer, so I won't say that. I will say he is a great writer, a brilliant stylist, probably one of the ten or twelve best in the profession of journalism globally. One drinks Halberstam greedily, exactly as one slugs down a long glass of ice cold milk after a hot, full stack of wheat cakes soaked in sweet-cream butter and real maple syrup. 'The Powers That Be' is a rich, delicious read.

The thing goes down so smoothly in part because the flow is uninterrupted by footnotes. You know what footnotes are -- those bothersome things that distract from the narrative by leading the eye down the page to some sort of assurance that the author knows what he's talking about and that he is, in fact, telling readers the truth. Footnotes allow and (properly done) even encourage readers to fact-check the author's narrative.

Despite its heft (being 771 pages long), The Powers That Be was an extremely entertaining read. Halberstam's style of writing is intimate. It is as if he is taking his reader into his confidences - leaning in to tell the reader secrets in a hushed, yet knowledgable voice. His prose is not gossipy, but rather matter of fact. Yet, there is a hint of society tell-all about it. In one particular section Halberstam states Edward Murrow was "ungodly handsome" (p 40), but then does not offer proof by way of pictures or real description. The reader simply has to take his word for it. Halberstam deftly wraps the political and economic climates around the historical who, what, where, when and why of all media giants. Events like the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Communism, and Vietnam all played a crucial part in influencing print, radio and television communications. How the world received information changed all landscapes - political, economic, social, forever. ( )

1662 The Powers That Be, by David Halberstam (read 2 Oct 1981) This is an account of CBS, Time, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times since the nineteen thirties, and it was unfailingly interesting even though awfully anecdotal. It apparently is based largely on interviews and is footnoteless. So much judgment is involved and one wonders if everything really was as the author says. But it was absorbing and I am glad I read it.
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This book changed my whole way of thinking about the Media. It is amazing. The history of this new source of power to influence the masses and how it was handled is fascinating.A must read. Then rent the movie Network. ( )