What do you think?
Rate this book
A Complex Fate: William L. Shirer and the American Century
William Shirer (1904-1993), a star foreign correspondent with the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s and ’30s, was a prominent member of what one contemporary observer described as an extraordinary band of American journalists, "some with the Midwest hayseed still in their hair," who gave their North American audiences a visceral sense of how Europe was spiralling into chaos and war. In 1937, Shirer left print journalism and became the first of the now legendary "Murrow boys," working as an on-air partner to the iconic CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. With Shirer reporting from inside Nazi Germany and Murrow from blitz-ravaged London, the pair built CBS’s European news operation into the industry leader and, in the process, revolutionized broadcasting. But after the war ended, the Shirer-Murrow relationship shattered. Shirer lost his job and by 1950 found himself blacklisted as a supposed Communist sympathizer. After nearly a decade in the professional wilderness, he began work on The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Published in 1960, Shirer's magnum opus sold millions of copies and was hailed as the masterwork that would "ensure his reputation as long as humankind reads." Ken Cuthbertson's A Complex Fate is a thought-provoking, richly detailed biography of William Shirer. Written with the full cooperation of Shirer’s family, and generously illustrated with photographs, it introduces a new generation of readers to a supremely talented, complex writer, while placing into historical context some of the pivotal media developments of our time.
580 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2015
10 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 11, 2018
Today we are exposed to the repetitive 24 hour news cycle on cable television. It seems that each hour the same information is reprogrammed creating a staleness for the viewer. Further exacerbating this reporting is the concept of “fake news” and the new reality that it has created in lieu of real journalism. This being the case it would be useful to think back seventy to eighty years to the type of reportage that existed in the 1930s and 40s. Instead of dealing with talking heads sitting around a table supposedly providing analysis and context, the public would gather around the family radio listening to reporters from the capitols of Europe and the battlefields of World War II. At that time a group of reporters worked for CBS news and were known as the “Murrow’s Boys,” men hired by Edward R. Murrow reporting war related events on site. One of those reporters, William L. Shirer, along with Murrow created the prototype of broadcast news that dominated the airwaves before cable television. It is through his biography of Shirer, A COMPLEX FATE: WILLIAM L. SHIRER AND THE AMERICAN CENTURY that Ken Cuthbertson traces the development of broadcast journalism through most of the twentieth century. Cuthbertson, also the author of the remarkable book, THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION: CANADA’S WORST EXPLOSION has written a remarkable study that encompasses Shirer’s life by integrating the main events of the pre- and post-World War II period and the dominant currents of print and non-print journalism at that time.
Shirer originally made a name for himself reporting from Vienna and Berlin throughout the 1930s and through his publication of his BERLIN DIARY in 1936, perhaps providing the most informative insights into Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement up until that time. He would return to the United States in 1940 as a broadcast journalist for CBS until 1947 as he was fired for his supposed liberal views. Shirer would be blacklisted from radio and television until 1960 because of the paranoia of the time period, particularly on the part of media executives. Shirer would climb out of the poverty that his banning had caused and restore his reputation with the publication of THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, then a bestseller, and today remains one of the most important examples of narrative history ever written.
According to the author, Shirer was a very complex individual who lost his father and grandfather at a young age and went through life searching for a meaningful existence which always seemed to be beyond reach. Shirer’s complexity was in part due to his own self-perceived shortcomings as he often seemed to be at loss in trying to make sense of his own life. Shirer would grow up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and would possess a certain Midwest naiveté that would be dashed later covering unimaginable events in Europe. Cuthbertson has written a detailed narrative that does a nice job placing Shirer’s life story in the context of the events occurring around him. Shirer is drawn to Europe and achieves his first break by hooking up with the conservative Chicago Tribune in 1925 and through his life we experience the “lost generation” that had migrated to Paris in the 1920s meeting Hemingway, Fitzgerald, along with the likes of James Thurber. His first major story covered Lindbergh’s crossing the Atlantic providing him with the opportunity for making a name for himself.
For much of Shirer’s career he seems to have been in the shadow of Edwin R. Murrow who hired him in 1934 as CBS was expanding its overseas news outlets in response to events. The two would become friends, only to suffer a disastrous falling out after World War II. The biographer must always be careful to avoid placing their subject on a pedestal, but it seems that Cuthbertson is bent on rewriting history with Shirer emerging from Murrow’s shadow. In his approach Cuthbertson has an engaging writing style and seems to cover all aspects of their friendship, competition, and falling out, integrating the history of radio journalism and the role of CBS, and other participants in the story. Analysis is clear and concise as it is with other aspects of the book and very thorough. My only question is sourcing employed. Cuthbertson relies too much on certain secondary sources, particularly THE MURROW BOYS by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson. The author does a fine job culling Shirer’s diaries and notes and should try and cite more primary materials as he makes his way through Shirer’s life story.
Cuthbertson has not written a hagiography of his subject and his description of Shirer’s private life and thoughts are dealt with in full. His pride which knew no bounds, his inability to know went to “hold his cards” and fight another day, the inability after self-reflection to rectify errors that he admitted he had made, his tenaciousness, his obsessiveness, and his belief in himself to a fault are all on display. Further, the author delves into Shirer’s private life; his marriages, affairs, socializing, years of travel and the effect on his family, and living beyond his means after his income was drastically reduced to the point he could not repair the furnace in his Connecticut farmhouse are explored in full.
Cuthbertson does an excellent job providing a feel for each city in which Shirer lives, and reports. Whether it is Paris in the 1920s, Vienna and Berlin in the 1930s, or London or New York, the reader will feel the vibe and seriousness of the events being covered. Shirer’s views, intellectual and emotional are clear be, it his distaste for England and France as they respond to the Anschluss with Austria, the Munich Crisis, or other events. Perhaps one of the most interesting sections of the book describes the relationships that Shirer developed with historical figures, especially Mahatmas Gandhi. In 1931 Shirer is dispatched to India by Colonel Robert McCormack, the owner of the Chicago Tribune and soon will meet and develop a friendship with Gandhi. The Indian revolutionary would assume the role of teacher and spiritual counselor to Shirer as they read and studied the holy books of the world’s great religions. This relationship softened Shirer as he learned about Asian culture and the developing world, witnessing the effects of English colonization first hand.
The history of radio journalism permeates the narrative throughout, even as it is threatened by the new medium of television. Numerous characters emerge, many of which were household names well into the twenty first century. Shirer’s interaction with the likes of William Paley, Eric Sevareid, Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, Edward R. Murrow, Frank Stanton and others are fully explored. For Cuthbertson, in covering the history of radio journalism, Shirer stands out as a dedicated, incisive newsman who strove to relay as much of the truth as he saw it, be it coverage of the Nuremburg Trials, travels to New Delhi and Kabul, or commentary comparing life in Europe and America. To Cuthbertson’s credit, he pulled no punches when he points out the errors in Shirer’s opinions.
Shirer was a firm believer in the strength of America and its values. He felt the United States was strong so engagement and dialogue with America’s foes after World War II was preferable to confrontation when countering Soviet expansionism. Shirer spoke against aid to Greece in 1947 and was critical of Chiang Kai-Shek, opinions that would eventually would bring about his termination at CBS. Shirer’s firing led to a crisis in his relationship with Murrow and Cuthbertson interestingly conjectures that Murrow’s guilt in not supporting his friend finally pushed him to confront Senator Joseph McCarthy and help bring him down in 1954.
There is so much material and detail that in certain areas Cuthbertson could have been a little more concise, a little less repetitious, but overall his work is important because it is the only full length biography of one of the most significant journalists of the twentieth century. Shirer, for all of his faults is a shining example of what freedom of the press means to a democracy, an example that the current occupant of the White House should consider as he rambles on with his seemingly daily diatribes about the press being the enemy of the American people.
Shirer originally made a name for himself reporting from Vienna and Berlin throughout the 1930s and through his publication of his BERLIN DIARY in 1936, perhaps providing the most informative insights into Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement up until that time. He would return to the United States in 1940 as a broadcast journalist for CBS until 1947 as he was fired for his supposed liberal views. Shirer would be blacklisted from radio and television until 1960 because of the paranoia of the time period, particularly on the part of media executives. Shirer would climb out of the poverty that his banning had caused and restore his reputation with the publication of THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, then a bestseller, and today remains one of the most important examples of narrative history ever written.
According to the author, Shirer was a very complex individual who lost his father and grandfather at a young age and went through life searching for a meaningful existence which always seemed to be beyond reach. Shirer’s complexity was in part due to his own self-perceived shortcomings as he often seemed to be at loss in trying to make sense of his own life. Shirer would grow up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and would possess a certain Midwest naiveté that would be dashed later covering unimaginable events in Europe. Cuthbertson has written a detailed narrative that does a nice job placing Shirer’s life story in the context of the events occurring around him. Shirer is drawn to Europe and achieves his first break by hooking up with the conservative Chicago Tribune in 1925 and through his life we experience the “lost generation” that had migrated to Paris in the 1920s meeting Hemingway, Fitzgerald, along with the likes of James Thurber. His first major story covered Lindbergh’s crossing the Atlantic providing him with the opportunity for making a name for himself.
For much of Shirer’s career he seems to have been in the shadow of Edwin R. Murrow who hired him in 1934 as CBS was expanding its overseas news outlets in response to events. The two would become friends, only to suffer a disastrous falling out after World War II. The biographer must always be careful to avoid placing their subject on a pedestal, but it seems that Cuthbertson is bent on rewriting history with Shirer emerging from Murrow’s shadow. In his approach Cuthbertson has an engaging writing style and seems to cover all aspects of their friendship, competition, and falling out, integrating the history of radio journalism and the role of CBS, and other participants in the story. Analysis is clear and concise as it is with other aspects of the book and very thorough. My only question is sourcing employed. Cuthbertson relies too much on certain secondary sources, particularly THE MURROW BOYS by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson. The author does a fine job culling Shirer’s diaries and notes and should try and cite more primary materials as he makes his way through Shirer’s life story.
Cuthbertson has not written a hagiography of his subject and his description of Shirer’s private life and thoughts are dealt with in full. His pride which knew no bounds, his inability to know went to “hold his cards” and fight another day, the inability after self-reflection to rectify errors that he admitted he had made, his tenaciousness, his obsessiveness, and his belief in himself to a fault are all on display. Further, the author delves into Shirer’s private life; his marriages, affairs, socializing, years of travel and the effect on his family, and living beyond his means after his income was drastically reduced to the point he could not repair the furnace in his Connecticut farmhouse are explored in full.
Cuthbertson does an excellent job providing a feel for each city in which Shirer lives, and reports. Whether it is Paris in the 1920s, Vienna and Berlin in the 1930s, or London or New York, the reader will feel the vibe and seriousness of the events being covered. Shirer’s views, intellectual and emotional are clear be, it his distaste for England and France as they respond to the Anschluss with Austria, the Munich Crisis, or other events. Perhaps one of the most interesting sections of the book describes the relationships that Shirer developed with historical figures, especially Mahatmas Gandhi. In 1931 Shirer is dispatched to India by Colonel Robert McCormack, the owner of the Chicago Tribune and soon will meet and develop a friendship with Gandhi. The Indian revolutionary would assume the role of teacher and spiritual counselor to Shirer as they read and studied the holy books of the world’s great religions. This relationship softened Shirer as he learned about Asian culture and the developing world, witnessing the effects of English colonization first hand.
The history of radio journalism permeates the narrative throughout, even as it is threatened by the new medium of television. Numerous characters emerge, many of which were household names well into the twenty first century. Shirer’s interaction with the likes of William Paley, Eric Sevareid, Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, Edward R. Murrow, Frank Stanton and others are fully explored. For Cuthbertson, in covering the history of radio journalism, Shirer stands out as a dedicated, incisive newsman who strove to relay as much of the truth as he saw it, be it coverage of the Nuremburg Trials, travels to New Delhi and Kabul, or commentary comparing life in Europe and America. To Cuthbertson’s credit, he pulled no punches when he points out the errors in Shirer’s opinions.
Shirer was a firm believer in the strength of America and its values. He felt the United States was strong so engagement and dialogue with America’s foes after World War II was preferable to confrontation when countering Soviet expansionism. Shirer spoke against aid to Greece in 1947 and was critical of Chiang Kai-Shek, opinions that would eventually would bring about his termination at CBS. Shirer’s firing led to a crisis in his relationship with Murrow and Cuthbertson interestingly conjectures that Murrow’s guilt in not supporting his friend finally pushed him to confront Senator Joseph McCarthy and help bring him down in 1954.
There is so much material and detail that in certain areas Cuthbertson could have been a little more concise, a little less repetitious, but overall his work is important because it is the only full length biography of one of the most significant journalists of the twentieth century. Shirer, for all of his faults is a shining example of what freedom of the press means to a democracy, an example that the current occupant of the White House should consider as he rambles on with his seemingly daily diatribes about the press being the enemy of the American people.
April 15, 2017
I remember when I was growing up during the ‘60s and ‘70s constantly seeing The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany and The Collapse of the Third Republic on “Book of the Month” club lists that appeared in the weekly newsmagazine ads.
Both books were written by William L. Shirer, the subject of this biography. Shirer grew up and went to college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He really never did fit in there and eventually he and a friend made their way in the early 1920’s to Europe – and settled in Paris. One can just imagine the vast cultural differences between Paris and Cedar Rapids. There was no going back for Shirer. He found work with the Chicago Tribune which had a branch office in Paris. By networking and becoming fluent in French (and later German) William Shirer became a writer-journalist for the Tribune.
The relationships Shirer had with colleagues and women are well recounted by the author. Shirer traveled and lived in many different parts of Europe – and became increasingly aware of the growth of right-wing groups; in particular Nazism in both Germany and Austria. With the continuing world-wide Depression his job became precarious and he was fired by the Chicago Tribune. Shirer and his wife settled for a year in Spain with the funds they had saved. At this stage he grasped anything that came his way and was offered a job broadcasting with CBS News. He teamed up with Ed Murrow and this duo became a famous broadcasting team when war broke out – Murrow from London and Shirer from Berlin.
At the time radio broadcasting, particularly live news, was rapidly ascending in terms of audience during wartime. This was the first time news was transmitted as it was happening. Radio was leading edge technology – and Shirer became identified with it. It brought the war in Europe directly to the United States and Canada.
From reading this book I gathered that Shirer was more comfortable as a writer than a broadcaster. Murrow, by contrast, had a radio voice and easily and effectively made the transition to TV in the 1950’s. After the War Shirer and Murrow had a very public falling out – and essentially Shirer was fired from CBS News. Shirer also was one, throughout his life, who did not forget nor forgive. After leaving CBS, Shirer was faced with a tremendous drop in salary. His life went into a type of hibernation – with his name no longer front and center. He had already written a few books, like “Berlin Diary” – so during the mid-50s he started to conceive of a history of Nazi Germany. This book grew to an enormous length – over 1,100 pages. The amount of documentation available for Shirer to sift through was staggering. Even though he reported in Europe and had seen many of the protagonists – he became aware during his research of all the deliberate preparations that had been made to wage war and murder vast numbers of people on the continent of Europe.
“The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” became a success when it was published in 1960 and restored Shirer’s name and also provided him the financial stability he needed. It is still in circulation today – and if there is one book to read on Nazi Germany this is it.
I enjoyed this book and Shirer led an exciting and fruitful life. The author brings out well the era and the relationships of Shirer’s long life (he died at age 89).
But, my edition is inundated with grammatical errors in every chapter.
Also, Page 205 (my book) on the last week of August 1939
The shuttle diplomacy between London and Berlin continued all that week, with Prime Minister Chamberlain traveling back and forth in a last-ditch effort to avoid the war
Wrong – Chamberlain did not go to Berlin, he stayed in London.
Page 327
With 1944 GOP presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie
Wrong – that was 1940, Wilkie died in October 1944
We are told repeatedly, as in every 50 pages, that Shirer was an introspective person.
I still give five stars because this book delivered on the long and engaging life of William L. Shirer.
Both books were written by William L. Shirer, the subject of this biography. Shirer grew up and went to college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He really never did fit in there and eventually he and a friend made their way in the early 1920’s to Europe – and settled in Paris. One can just imagine the vast cultural differences between Paris and Cedar Rapids. There was no going back for Shirer. He found work with the Chicago Tribune which had a branch office in Paris. By networking and becoming fluent in French (and later German) William Shirer became a writer-journalist for the Tribune.
The relationships Shirer had with colleagues and women are well recounted by the author. Shirer traveled and lived in many different parts of Europe – and became increasingly aware of the growth of right-wing groups; in particular Nazism in both Germany and Austria. With the continuing world-wide Depression his job became precarious and he was fired by the Chicago Tribune. Shirer and his wife settled for a year in Spain with the funds they had saved. At this stage he grasped anything that came his way and was offered a job broadcasting with CBS News. He teamed up with Ed Murrow and this duo became a famous broadcasting team when war broke out – Murrow from London and Shirer from Berlin.
At the time radio broadcasting, particularly live news, was rapidly ascending in terms of audience during wartime. This was the first time news was transmitted as it was happening. Radio was leading edge technology – and Shirer became identified with it. It brought the war in Europe directly to the United States and Canada.
From reading this book I gathered that Shirer was more comfortable as a writer than a broadcaster. Murrow, by contrast, had a radio voice and easily and effectively made the transition to TV in the 1950’s. After the War Shirer and Murrow had a very public falling out – and essentially Shirer was fired from CBS News. Shirer also was one, throughout his life, who did not forget nor forgive. After leaving CBS, Shirer was faced with a tremendous drop in salary. His life went into a type of hibernation – with his name no longer front and center. He had already written a few books, like “Berlin Diary” – so during the mid-50s he started to conceive of a history of Nazi Germany. This book grew to an enormous length – over 1,100 pages. The amount of documentation available for Shirer to sift through was staggering. Even though he reported in Europe and had seen many of the protagonists – he became aware during his research of all the deliberate preparations that had been made to wage war and murder vast numbers of people on the continent of Europe.
“The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” became a success when it was published in 1960 and restored Shirer’s name and also provided him the financial stability he needed. It is still in circulation today – and if there is one book to read on Nazi Germany this is it.
I enjoyed this book and Shirer led an exciting and fruitful life. The author brings out well the era and the relationships of Shirer’s long life (he died at age 89).
But, my edition is inundated with grammatical errors in every chapter.
Also, Page 205 (my book) on the last week of August 1939
The shuttle diplomacy between London and Berlin continued all that week, with Prime Minister Chamberlain traveling back and forth in a last-ditch effort to avoid the war
Wrong – Chamberlain did not go to Berlin, he stayed in London.
Page 327
With 1944 GOP presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie
Wrong – that was 1940, Wilkie died in October 1944
We are told repeatedly, as in every 50 pages, that Shirer was an introspective person.
I still give five stars because this book delivered on the long and engaging life of William L. Shirer.
January 2, 2016
A Complex Fate was a good choice for the title of this book. It places Shirer as the outside observer at many of the key events of the 20th century, like the beginning of the end of colonialism in Gandhi's campaigns, and the ascendancy of the Nazis. Shirer evolves from the veteran print foreign correspondent into an insider at the birth of broadcast news, only to become an outsider once more when he seems to be at the top of his profession.
October 18, 2015
I'd always been curious to know more about the extraordinary man who wrote Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The Nightmare Years, and so much more. This boo, tells the gripping story of the famous foreign correspondent / broadcaster / historian who knew the top Nazis (and Gandhi!). Ken Cuthbertson has done a magnificent job of tacking the story of a complex man and his very complex life. Brilliantly researched; brilliantly written. Bravo!
October 2, 2016
A meticulously researched and well balanced bio of William Shirer, print/radio journalist and populist historian of 1930's Germany and WWII. Cuthbertson highlights Shirer's life as set against the events he reported, without getting bogged down in sensationalism or analytical tire spinning. Shirer's private life is examined; without being gossipy or judgmental, with an eye to how his relationships and world-view influenced his work.
Topics and Personalities
Edward R. Murrow
Gandhi
Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan
William Paley
Tilly Losch
CBS radio/tv
McCarthy era
Black list
Early days of radio journalism
story behind, the writing of "Berlin Diary"
story behind, the writing of "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"
Topics and Personalities
Edward R. Murrow
Gandhi
Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan
William Paley
Tilly Losch
CBS radio/tv
McCarthy era
Black list
Early days of radio journalism
story behind, the writing of "Berlin Diary"
story behind, the writing of "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"
June 14, 2015
William L. Shirer has finally gotten his biography. A Complex Fate is well-researched, and Cuthbertson presents a fair picture of Shirer, warts and all. My only gripe lies with the publisher (I assume anyway) as the book needed one final copy edit before going out. The little mistakes really added up.
November 2, 2015
Great book about an interesting, talented, and as the title states, a complex man with a complex fate.
December 17, 2015
A bit long, but this is an honest, clear-headed, well researched, and respectful biography of a good man. The writer of the extraordinary testimonial history books THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, and BERLIN DIARY, had quite a life, here well described. A liberal trapped in a conservative world, a man who could "think for himself" and who had to think and talk on his feet as he ad-libbed on air for CBS at the beginning of the Second World War, William L. Shirer found his mode of expression, not as a writer of fiction or plays, as he longed to be, but as one of the best historical commentors, ever. This book is neither a testimonial nor a leering warts-and-all exposé; it is an honest, well written, mostly facinating biography.
July 11, 2019
The title of this book is completely appropriate, in that William L. Shirer was a complicated character, as was the history of the U.S. in the 20th Century. Many years ago I read Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and this biography provided some perspective about how that book came to be written and how the form of popular and readable history (think David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Halberstam, etc.) came into being. Shirer was at times a despicable person, while at other times his persistence made me very sympathetic to his predicament. I felt that Cutherbertson provided an even handed portrait of Shirer, even while generally tolerant of his personality defects.
August 31, 2015
Solid bio of the renowned journalist and author. His Berlin Diary and The Nightmare Years are two of the best books I have read about the WWII era. This book delves fairly deeply into his career and personal life, though it's marred by lots of repetition, as though the author doesn't trust us to remember a salient fact one chapter later. Still, recommended.
August 14, 2015
A reminder of how vital journalists were in days past. Very good at explaining the various networks and personalities. Interesting and well chosen illustrations(by the way, if Donald Boyd is the grandson of Shirer's father's sister that made him Shirer's first cousin once removed, not 'grandnephew").
September 5, 2017
I found this a solid, very readable biography of one of my great heroes. It provides an admirable counterbalance to Shirer's own 3-volume memoir, which is one of the finest and most engaging autobiographies I've ever read. I do have a couple of editorial quibbles about Cuthbertson's book. Firstly, whoever proofread the final typeset should be fired posthaste. Too many annoying word omissions and other obvious errors (especially in the book's middle section) to pass over unremarked. It seems pretty clear too much reliance was placed on proofreading software and not enough on the human eye. Secondly, Cuthbertson has an annoying habit of using the same exact quotation in multiple spots of his narrative. It's as if his editors either didn't care about these needless repetitions or else they failed to read the manuscript closely enough to catch them. Something I found rather puzzling was the lack of space (a mere thirty-odd pages) given to Shirer's WWII experiences after his return from the Third Reich in late 1940. Surely, there was more to say about those five years of Shirer's life than that. Otherwise, I must say I thought Cuthbertson did an especially good job handling Shirer's years abroad and his post-CBS period. Overall, then, a very worthwhile read profiling a brave, principled journalist who should never be forgotten by his fellow Americans.
May 7, 2016
Why should you read "A Complex Fate: William L Shirer and the American Century", by Ken Cuthbertson? Well, beside the fact that Cuthbertson is a very good writer, the subject - war correspondent and author William Shirer - was a recorder of his times, both in oral and written form. As one of "Murrow's Boys", Shirer was one of the radio broadcasters who brought the pre-war and war-years "home" to listeners in the United States in their "World News Roundup". In his first book, "Berlin Diary". published in 1941, and "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", published in 1960 , Shirer explained the events of the 1930s and 1940s in both historic and personal terms.
William Shirer was born in 1904 in Chicago to upward-striving parents, who had moved from Iowa to the big city. His father was an up-and-coming lawyer whose death in 1913 prompted his widow and three children to move back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Shirer had a small town up-bringing. He left for Paris upon graduating from college, one of the many Americans who were fleeing American provincialism in the 1920s. He managed to be hired by the Chicago Tribune's Paris paper and made his way up the ladder of print journalism in the European bureaus of American newspapers. His chance for the big-time came when he was asked by CBS and Edward Murrow to become part of a radio team who were to broadcast the political and military moves of Hitler's Germany and the reactions of other European countries as war became more and more probable.
Ken Cuthbertson's writing is first-rate as he looks at Shirer's life and how he influenced public opinion with both his broadcasts and his post-war writing. Even if you're not familiar with William Shirer, he and his work was so integrated with the history of the time. He was one of those who were "there", broadcasting from Berlin and Vienna and Paris. Edward Murrow might be more famous - with his "THIS is London" sign-on in Blitz-bombed London and his post-war programs on CBS Television - but William Shirer's books continued the explanation of those troubled years. Ken Cuthbertson's bio of William Shirer, in a way, continues that explanation.
William Shirer was born in 1904 in Chicago to upward-striving parents, who had moved from Iowa to the big city. His father was an up-and-coming lawyer whose death in 1913 prompted his widow and three children to move back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Shirer had a small town up-bringing. He left for Paris upon graduating from college, one of the many Americans who were fleeing American provincialism in the 1920s. He managed to be hired by the Chicago Tribune's Paris paper and made his way up the ladder of print journalism in the European bureaus of American newspapers. His chance for the big-time came when he was asked by CBS and Edward Murrow to become part of a radio team who were to broadcast the political and military moves of Hitler's Germany and the reactions of other European countries as war became more and more probable.
Ken Cuthbertson's writing is first-rate as he looks at Shirer's life and how he influenced public opinion with both his broadcasts and his post-war writing. Even if you're not familiar with William Shirer, he and his work was so integrated with the history of the time. He was one of those who were "there", broadcasting from Berlin and Vienna and Paris. Edward Murrow might be more famous - with his "THIS is London" sign-on in Blitz-bombed London and his post-war programs on CBS Television - but William Shirer's books continued the explanation of those troubled years. Ken Cuthbertson's bio of William Shirer, in a way, continues that explanation.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews