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The Place To Be
Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News

by Roger Mudd



      A familiar face on the CBS television news for decades, newsman Roger Mudd looks back on his long and illustrious career in a new memoir entitled, The Place To Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News.

Mudd joined the network's Washington bureau when CBS was making its move to become the premier purveyor of television news.

As a congressional correspondent he covered the historic Senate filibuster debate over the 1964 Civil Rights Act, along with Vietnam and Watergate. One of a stable of CBS News broadcasters which included Dan Rather, Marvin Kalb, Daniel Schorr , Eric Sevareid, Ed Bradley, and Leslie Stahl, Mudd offers candid assessments of all of his colleagues in this chronicle of the glory days of television news.

He lays bare the inflated egos (including his own), the pride of competition with the other networks, the frustrations and the ambitions that drove a dedicated team of talented correspondents.

Mudd is certainly not reluctant to criticize the men and women he worked with. He'll often temper a complimentary comment by following up a few sentences later with a highly critical barb about the same person. Although it is not given undue space, Mudd doesn't duck the Dan Rather "issue" and how he felt about being passed over for the anchor position on the CBS Evening News when Walter Cronkite retired.

This behind the scenes look at CBS News is filled with entertaining anecdotes about the people who were making the headlines as well as the people who were reporting important events. Mudd's views will resonate well with those readers who grew up watching or listening to the daily national newscasts and remember these familiar journalists.

Not only does Mudd touch upon most of the key personalities but at the end of the book he offers a short "Where Are They Now?" chapter which contains information about where these men and women are now or, in many cases, when they passed away.

The Book

Public Affairs
March 2008
Hardcover
9781586485764
Autobiography
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Bob Walch
Reviewed 2008
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