Tom Brokaw

This might be the shortest book on my reading list, but it certainly isn’t the least impactful. Tom Brokaw shares the history of his family, mainly in South Dakota, and by doing that, delves into much about the history of this country in that part of the country. His parents were hard working and passed their work ethic and honesty on to their three boys. Tom’s love for them and the locations he grew up in are evident. He was as typical an American boy as you’ll find anywhere. His show more final chapter, the epilogue, shows his frustration in where we’ve come especially the past few years. Tom says he never in a million years guessed that he would live to see a United States where our president attempted to over throw the government he had led for four years. The final few pages are optimistic, even in the face of that. That’s Tom Brokaw, and we’re lucky to have had him at NBC and still have him. show less

A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope by Tom Brokaw is a thought provoking, and tender book. I have always admired Tom Brokaw for his honest and unbiased ways and this book goes into his personal life and shows what a truly wonderful and strong character he is. A powerful message, esp to those of us that battle against problems. Maybe not cancer but other problems too that are life changing and dramatic. He gives a hope and encouragement with his calm and soothing manner. I got this show more book from the library and got the audio version. show less

It was insightful and I learned things I didn't know about Watergate- and that's saying a lot after listening to the Slow Burn podcast and the 6 or so episodes they had on this subject. It's about Watergate and the year -long saga but it's a sort of memoir for Tom Brokaw as he puts some of his fond memories into recounting....lots of dining out and high-brow talk but still with liberal cred.

"'I think this is the greatest generation any society has ever produced.' I know that this was a bold statement and a sweeping judgment, but since than I have restated it on many occasions. While I am periodically challenged on this premise, I believe I have the facts on my side."

So writes Tom Brokaw in the introduction to this book about the World War II generation, and he proceeds to make his case by telling individual stories of survival, courage, leadership, and trail-blazing.

I pretty show more much loved this book. I have always liked reading books centered around WWII, but I haven't actually read much non-fiction, and especially not exactly like this. I got what I expected and more.

I expected stories about the heroes, both celebrated and unsung, and their exploits in the war. I may have even expected stories about the women on the home front.

I did not expect Brokaw to tackle some of the issues this generation had to overcome. He did not shy away from segregation, both in civilian life and the military. He confronted the issue of the Japanese internment camps. He took a close look at the women in uniform during the war and the paths they had to forge to get anything that even resembled equality. I was impressed that he included those topics, and I learned a lot from the personal stories he used to make his points about these issues.

I also didn't really expect the personal stories to dwell so much on life after the war. I was a little disappointed at first; after all, the war was what drew me to the book. But I quickly got over it and realized that this generation didn't let one major event define their lives completely. They moved on and shaped the world in the ways they thought best. And that is part of what makes them great.

I'm struggling to find a way to say what I mean with this next thought. Here goes. The people who told these stories all came home to live successful lives, in big ways and small. There had to be people who came home and just couldn't adapt to civilian life. It felt like, in order for the picture to be truly complete, some of that should have been included. Of course, who wants to be interviewed about why they started drinking too much and wound up homeless, right? Or maybe those guys mostly passed away before this book was written. The point could be made that including that kind of thing would weaken the book's central argument, I know. But ignoring the facts doesn't make them go away, and addressing all the facts makes your case stronger. It's a small thing, but I noticed it because of the thoroughness of the rest of the book.

This was also an interesting study in how times have changed. This generation was very much about patriotism, duty, honor, and personal sacrifice. They had widely experienced crushing poverty during the Depression, and they never forgot the lessons they learned in those times. In comparison to our current society, where we just have to have the newest phone/video game/book, or whatever, it made me feel shallow and small. I don't think that's bad at all. Sometimes we need to be reminded about how blessed we truly are.

There are surprising tales of heroism on all fronts, both during the war and in the years following. Tom Brokaw makes a strong argument that the WWII generation was truly the greatest generation. show less