Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR

by Lisa Napoli

A group biography of four beloved women who fought sexism, covered decades of American news, and whose voices defined NPR

In the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women in the workplace still found themselves relegated to secretarial positions or locked out of jobs entirely. This was especially true in the news business, a backwater of male chauvinism where a woman might be lucky to get a foothold on the “women’s pages.” But when a pioneering nonprofit called National Public Radio came along in the 1970s, and the door to serious journalism opened a crack, four remarkable women came along and blew it off the hinges.

Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is journalist Lisa Napoli’s captivating account of these four women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons. They had radically different stories. Cokie Roberts was born into a political dynasty, roamed the halls of Congress as a child, and felt a tug toward public service. Susan Stamberg, who had lived in India with her husband who worked for the State Department, was the first woman to anchor a nightly news program and pressed for accommodations to balance work and home life. Linda Wertheimer, the daughter of shopkeepers in New Mexico, fought her way to a scholarship and a spot on-air. And Nina Totenberg, the network's legal affairs correspondent, invented a new way to cover the Supreme Court.

Based on extensive interviews and calling on the author’s deep connections in news and public radio, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie will be as beguiling and sharp as its formidable subjects.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Feminism, Book Club, Journalism, Politics

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2021

About the author

Author,
Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
Crown, February 2011
(Paperback: Broadway Books, April, 2012)

Lisa Napoli is a journalist who has worked in all media. She began her career at CNN in Atlanta in the early eighties, worked in local TV news in North Carolina, covered the Clinton campaign and Waco standoff as a field producer for an early iteration of the Fox News Service, produced shows for an upscale division of QVC called Q2, covered the early days of the Web for the NY Times as the first staff columnist/reporter hired for a now defunct-section called CyberTimes, served as Internet correspondent for MSNBC (where she wrote an accompanying column for MSNBC.com) and most recently served as reporter/back-up host for the public radio show Marketplace.

She had never traveled to Asia before she was asked, by chance, to go to Bhutan in 2006.

Her proudest accomplishment, in addition to learning to swim at age 37, are the parties she holds every Friday night, where she relishes seeing friends befriend one another.

A native of Brooklyn, NY and a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., Napoli currently lives in downtown Los Angeles, where there’s a giant swimming pool, and hopes in the second half of her life to be a philanthropist.

Reviews

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not even half way through, persevering because I love the four women and I have loved Public Radio for 50 years. Interweaving four personal stories in their historical context and in the context of the evolution of NPR should be engaging and inspiring. Unfortunately, the author keeps her subjects at arms length and seems not to know how to pull the reader in. The narrative is frustratingly choppy, revealing little insight into the personalities we want to get to know better. Where the biographies should flow and interweave, to create a coherent story, they shift disjointedly, sometimes inexplicably, leaving me to wonder what was left out and what the back story was.. As founding mothers of NPR, and All Things Considered in particular, Susan Stamberg, Linda Werthheimer, Nina Totenberg, and Cokie Roberts created something brand new, a dynamic program that helped America understand itself and the world. All Things Considered was my introduction to Public Radio. It was a revelation to hear women reporters and anchors. I listened on my local NPR station, which is a bright light in my rural community. I am disappointed that this book is so poorly written. Susan, Linda, Nina, Cokie, and NPR deserve better.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A newsroom is a curious workplace, unlike any other - a way station where information streams in from points near and far; where it is filtered with alacrity, ego, and angst through the odd lot of individuals entrusted with collecting and reconstituting it and then distributing it out to an audience eager to connect to and make sense of the world beyond."

Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie, affectionately referred to as the founding mothers, is an account of the birth of N.P.R. and the important contributions these resolute women made, how their perseverance cracked the walls of male only broadcasting in the late 60s and early 70s. These women became the backbone of N.P.R. and shaped what IS news and what aspects of news people crave. They were the pioneers.

It is easy to forget how much progress women have made int the last fifty years. When these women started their careers there were few workplaces that welcomed them. N.P.R. is where they got their chance. Under the directions of men such as Don Quale and Frank Markiewicz, they morphed news coverage from the 'old boy network ' to a new and more humanistic approach. Not only was the news factually reported, but people were interviewed to see their reactions to what they had seen. Programs were aired about everyday concerns, about everyday people. Whether it was Susan's humanity on All Things Considered, Nina's ability to get the facts, or the dynamic team of Cokie and Linda with in-depth knowledge of politics, a new delivery of news evolved, always clear, informal and conversational - so important to their listeners. The fact that these women were the very best friends amazed me the most. With the fierce intimacy of survivors of a battle, they were sisters bonded forever."Fallopian jungle" was the term a co-worker coined for their corner of the office.

As one of those dedicated fans of N.P.R., knowing the story of its evolution was particularly meaningful. As a woman who sometimes is annoyed by gender inequalities, I applaud these four. They, in a short time, revolutionized opportunities for women and also news coverage.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was reading this book about these four dynamic women, I jokingly referred to it as my geeky version of “Sex and The City.” Intellect and The City, maybe?

I awaited this book with great anticipation in advance of its release and got my hands on the audiobook as quickly as possible, but alas, as some reviewers have stated, it was just missing a bit of magic for me somehow. Totally solid enough reporting and all, don’t get me wrong, but - there were no “driveway moments,” you know? It was just kind of missing that special storytelling je ne sais quoi that I think would be appropriate in a history of NPR. There was a choppy, disjointed, distant quality about it - almost a brisk superficiality? - and the prose and structure were not especially appealing and were even offputting at times. Perhaps, as other reviewers suggest, it was just too much to cover four lives (including lives of these women’s ancestors, and partners…) as well as a history of NPR in fewer than 300 pages. I also think that I’ve been very spoiled by the wonderful work of so many podcasters who have in recent years been colorfully relaying well-researched biographical stories of notable women in culture, history, and politics.

In any case, if you’re a hardcore NPR fan, or fan of any of these four notable journalists, or otherwise part of this book’s intended audience, then do go for it, and I think there’s a good chance you’ll have a better experience than I did, but I was just a wee bit let down by this one.

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author discusses the history of National Public Radio by introducing us to the "founding mothers:" Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg, and Cokie Roberts. These women, all born between 1938 and 1944, helped to make the evening program All Things Considered, and NPR itself, a familiar and trusted news source. They were very different (Susan, a Barnard grad from NY; Linda, a New Mexico grocer's daughter who went to Wellesley; Nina a college dropout from New York; and Cokie, daughter of a US senator from Louisiana and another Seven Sisters graduate) but each was driven in her own way, finding a niche in public radio. Recommended for those interested in women's history, or broadcasting. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

[Homerun2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I expected to love this book, being a fan of both NPR and the Founding Mothers. But I found it oddly organized and didn't particularly care for the chatty and informal tone. Most of the book is taken up with personal stories about the four principals. There is much to admire and a little to make you cringe. Less time is devoted to NPR and I could have used more filling in of that story, but perhaps I didn't understand the scope of the book.

There is heavy emphasis on these amazing women breaking through the glass ceiling and a reminder that it wasn't that long ago that a journalism job for a woman was just not available. They were indeed trailblazers and deserve full credit for that.

[Lina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stan NPR really hard, but honestly... I did not like this book.

First, there's a structural problem with the way it's arranged. The book launches in to each of these founding mothers' childhood "origin stories," so to speak, without any preamble or reason why one might care. I think it would have been better served to start the book with some sort of general introduction about why we should care.

Second, I cannot stand the purple prose. For example, I think it might have been in describing Cokie Roberts' childhood where the book describes a radio dispensing "oracular pearls." Or describing the New Yorker as the "effete bible of the literari."

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one bit off more than it could chew. Should have been fascinating, but instead the whole thing felt like it was written at arm's length. Did not serve these women or NPR well.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book interweaves four parallel biographies of the lives of the “founding mothers,” and toward the end of the book evolves into an abridged history of National Public Radio (NPR). NPR’s chaotic, sometimes controversial, origins are described by the book including its dramatic financial rescue after a short tenure of a president who concentrated on growing NPR's prominence while neglecting its financial budget. Through this early history the presence of these four women—Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, and Linda Wertheimer—and the sound of their voices heard over the airwaves continued to be closely associated the organization.

It was no accidental coincidence that women played a significant role at its beginning in 1971. How else could a new untested startup news program with limited financial recourses staff up with eager and intelligent workers willing to work for low pay? In 1971 the prevailing understanding was that women couldn’t be news broadcasters. A woman’s voice simply couldn’t carry the necessary gravitas needed for serious news. NPR taught the nation otherwise.

… so new and precarious, the pay so low, and the new program so untested that convention and chauvinism didn’t, couldn’t prevail.

I vaguely remember the financial crisis experienced by NPR in 1983, but I was surprised by how serious it was. As described in this book, except for some exhaustive negotiations it would have gone bankrupt. The one thing it had of sufficient value that made the bankers willing to negotiate the necessary loans was its ownership of its satellite service. Restructuring of government funding, modification to its relationship with member broadcast stations, and conversion of the satellite service into a cooperative venture enabled NPR to work its way out of debt.

NPR has grown into the news organization that it is today during my working career. Thus this book served as a reminder of much of the news that I have lived through. Among the things I was reminded of was the open discrimination practiced in that era in the hiring of women.

The book's narrative includes short biographies of a number of other people that played roles, or were inspirations, in the lives of these four women. Among the numerous peripheral stories mentioned in this book, Gloria Steinem and the beginning of Ms. Magazine is included.
Pardon my bragging, but I have always claimed to be a supporter of women's rights and that includes during this era of the early 70s. The one tangible thing I did in 1972 to prove my sincerity was to become a charter subscriber of Ms. Magazine (maybe to impress my girl friend—later my wife). I cancelled after a year of not reading it.

[Lisa Shower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

This was a very good book. Full of information, as well a love, friendship and inspiration. These four women changed the course of history for the rest of us!

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years, I've listened to NPR broadcasts, both the morning and evening shows. I've enjoyed listening to the bluegrass music shows in the afternoons (sadly, they've gone off the air). This interesting history chronicles the four women who established NPR and their careers there. Cokey Roberts recently passed away, but the other three are still active. If you're a fellow fan of NPR, then you'll probably get a kick out of this read as much as I did.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in my early twenties when we moved to Philadelphia in 1975. I don't know exactly when we discovered National Public Radio, it seems to have always been part of our life. We listened to Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Thistle & Shamrock, World Cafe, Piano Jazz, Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Diane Rehm, and later Here and Now, 1A, plus classical music and folk music and jazz.

I recognized the voices of our virtual friends on the airwaves. But I did not know much about them.

Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie is the story of the "founding mothers" of NPR, whose voices we know like old friends. Lisa Napoli has written an entertaining, highly readable book that tells their stories and the barriers they broke. These women were integral to the rise of public radio. They were different in background and personality, but each rose to the top, bonded, and supported each other.

I remember my first full time job n 1972 and the sexism in the workplace. A coworker discovered her salary was far less than the salary of the man who had the position before her. He had a family to support, she was told; her husband was her support. Another coworker told me to get a credit card in my name, and a credit rating. When her husband passed, she was unable to get a car loan. It was a time when women were judged by their appearance and attraction. A black coworker was chastised for wearing 'ethnic' earrings. I was fired for a fashionable frizzy perm.

This was the world Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie encountered when forging their careers.

There were women who had broken the barrier into journalism to inspire them. When a young Linda Cozby (later, Wertheimer) saw trailblazer Pauline Frederick reporting the news, it was a revelation. "To hell with being Edward R. Murrow's secretary," she thought. "I'm going to aim higher."

In 1959, Susan Levitt Stamberg's "blue-chip" education wasn't as important in the workplace as her ninety-nine words a minute typing speed. She started as a secretary for the new 16 magazine where she chose the winner of the "I Miss Elvis Contest" when Elvis entered the U.S. Army. She advanced to secretary at The New Republic, which gave her a "crash course in Washington." When start-up station WAMU-FM needed a full time producer, at low pay, she found the challenging job she needed.

As a girl, Nina Totenberg, daughter of an eminent violinist, was inspired by Nancy Drew. It struck her that "journalism seemed as close to detective work as she could imagine." Her first job in journalism was working on the women's pages of a daily newspaper.

Cokie Boggs came from an elite background of democratic, Southern, Catholic, politicians. But when she fell in love with the Jewish Steve Roberts, who planned a career in journalism, she knew a political career was out. Cokie found employment in television, including Meet The Press. After Steve and Cokie married, she had a checkered career as her husband was assigned across the world. While having babies and raising her children, she worked with Steve. While abroad, reporting breaking news for CBS made her mark and her career.

NPR's development, advances, and economic woes is a major part of the book.

Susan earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cokie became one of the best-known women in America. Nina's coverage of the Supreme Court, including the Anita Hill sexual harassment suit against Clarence Thomas, earned her top awards. Linda was with NPR from its beginning, integral to All Things Considered, and reporting on Washington politics.

The book is as inspirational as it is informative.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing Patchwork

I am a long-time, regular listener to NPR and a great admirer of the four women profiled, Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg, and Cokie Roberts. Thus I was very much looking forward to learning more about them and to an entertaining description of their role in the early days shaping what NPR was to become journalistically.

Although there are some interesting revelations about the four women and about the first decades of NPR, this is a poorly written, poorly edited hodge podge of a book.

In the early chapters, author Napoli chronicles the background and early career of each of the four women. But these read like enhanced resumes or collections of detail obtained from Google searches. There is little to no indication that the author had direct contact with the three surviving women whom she profiles (Cokie Roberts, sadly, died of cancer).

Oddly, Napoli devotes nearly as much space to the career of Cokie Roberts’ husband, Steve, and their peripatetic life as Steve rose through the ranks of the New York Times, as to each of the four women. Steve’s career is not completely incidental to Cokie’s professional story, as it resulted in a delay in moving back to Washington where her political instincts, knowledge, and connections could be used to full effect. But the book is advertised as the story of the founding mothers of NPR, not of their husbands and it comes across as padding.

This padding is more evident as Napoli devotes a significant portion of the book to NPR’s financial problems, particularly under the leadership of Frank Mankiewicz, who spent money like a drunken sailor and very nearly drove NPR into bankruptcy. Since the four women profiled had nothing to do with the financial management of NPR, this digression is tangential to the story the author purports to tell.

What is relevant is the low pay the four women received compared to the male broadcasters at NPR, many of whom did far less to shape the network’s coverage and approach to broadcast journalism. In general, NPR salaries were modest and what was paid to women was even less. Discrimination against women in the workplace in the 1960s and 1970s is jaw dropping, and it improved only gradually in the decades to follow. This is one of the stronger areas explored by the book.

In the end, Cokie Roberts, who had unparalleled insights into how Washington works and had an engaging style as a talking head, hit the big time financially. While negotiating contracts that allowed her to continue at NPR, she was named to prominent positions on news and current affairs programs at ABC and Public Television. Importantly, this income was supplemented by lucrative speaking fees and book royalties. Unmentioned by Napoli, the other three women likely benefitted from the speaking circuit as they gained fame, and all were published authors (Susan Stamberg of children’s books).

The surprise about Nina Totenberg, given her excellent analysis and commentary regarding Supreme Court decisions, is that she never went to law school and indeed dropped out of Boston University before graduating. Napoli makes much of her drive and her scoops — including the sexual harassment charges against Clarence Thomas — but for many of us Totenberg’s ability to explain Court decisions in understandable terms is what really sets her apart.

Other reviewers have cited examples of poor writing, grammatical errors and other such shortcomings of the author and her editors, so I will not repeat these.

This could have been a fascinating book had it lived up to its book jacket claim and conveyed the warmth, personality, and influence of these four impressive women. Instead, it is a disappointing patchwork.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately not my favorite kind of book but definitely worth dipping into - especially just to be reminded that a beloved institution, NPR, isn't as old as I thought and that American life would be much poorer if it had not succeeded. Want to know more about how National Public Radio became a powerhouse? Read this book.

This book is also for longtime fans of NPR and All Things Considered; supporters of women in leadership roles, especially in journalism and Washington politics, plus all the fans of these strong, opinionated, and trailblazing ladies. Thank goodness they persisted in something that seemed radical at the time. We are better for their work and their gifts.

Thank you to #Netgalley for providing an advance reader's copy.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you an NPR listener? I have been since hearing All Things Considered with my aunt on summer evenings at her house as a teen. I eagerly awaited an opportunity to read this book.

Napoli gives us an abridged history of NPR and brief biographies of Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts. I enjoyed reading about these iconic women and how they led the way for women in journalism. And I was reminded about how much has changed since the 1970's.

I remember the way sexual harassment was accepted as the norm. I listened to Anita Hill testifying in 1992 at Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court Confirmation hearings (Thank you Nina Totenberg!) And I am still dumbstruck that he was confirmed to the Court.

My high school social studies class listened to parts of the 1978 broadcast of the Senate discussion of the Panama Canal treaties presided over by Linda. This was the first broadcast from the Senate floor.

I have an ongoing love affair with NPR, and I really want to love this book. And I do like it a lot. So what is missing? I want details. I want these women to be human, fleshed out with their admirable qualities and their imperfections. Perhaps that's asking too much. Napoli packs in a lot in her 281 pages, and I want more.

I am glad I read this book and I do hope more is written about these amazing women journalists.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even though I don't know a lot about these women, I somehow didn't learn a lot about them from the book. I'd already read or heard many of the stories in the book. Also, there's too much in the book that's not really about any of them. Overall, disappointing read.

[Erin Cataldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to reading this book I didn't know anything about the history of NPR or its founding mothers. I don't religiously listen to NPR but I really love the morning edition and other segments that I catch on my days off (I always have an audiobook going in my car so I can't listen there). NPR is educated, professional, and truly unbiased - they show the human element behind the stories and as a result NPR is universally regarded as one of the most trustworthy news sources out there. Lisa Napoli does a great job giving mini biographies of Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie discussing how they all got into journalism and eventually broadcasting. In a male dominated world of the sixties and seventies - these four women had to have more grit and determination than any other journalists, but they all eventually succeeded and made their way to the relatively new radio station, NPR. Not only is this book about these four women, it is also about the founding of NPR and the rocky road it started out on. A compelling look at everyone's favorite radio station and some of the pioneering women behind it!

[Ashley D · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked this a lot! now considering a move to dc

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been listening to NPR since the late 1970s, when I was just at the beginning of my career. I had a 13" black & white TV and not the best reception. A friend told me about NPR and it became my news source and so much more.
This book is a biography of four incredible women, a history of NPR, and a history of the women's movement. As I read, I could almost hear the voices of Susan, Linda, Nina, & Cokie and how they made the news interesting and relevant.
Oh, how I loved this book! I don't know if my enjoyment of it was due to nostalgia or to the fascinating story, probably a combination of both, but it doesn't really matter because I think this book was fantastic!

[Dale Wyant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my book club's July pick, and while I was happy to learn more about the shaky history of this now beloved institution, I felt the book lacked heart. Like other reviewers, I agree that Napoli held her readers "at arm's length," and spent so much time on management's financial struggles, you never felt what it was like to actually be in the studio with the on air talent. The last chapter, "The Drive to Survive," was quickly followed up with the Epilogue of "Hollywood Walk of Fame," that as a reader I felt so much was skipped in between.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

To those of us who are loyal listeners of NPR this is a MUST read.
Lisa Napoli's writing captures the essence of Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie.
The history of NPR is woven throughout as these formidable women laid the foundation for others to follow.
Their lives, loves, successes and failures allows the reader to gain a richer understanding of the women of NPR.
A wonderful read, very well written.

[Syd Botz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really excited to read about these npr girlies but this was cringy and flat … don’t say much more than I could have learned off Wikipedia

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite genre is biography, so this story of the four founding mothers of NPR was like reading four biographies in one! When NPR began, it couldn't compete with the commercial network news organizations, so it hired journalists and reporters who would work for low wages, aka women. I enjoyed reading about Susan Stamberg's life in India; Linda Wertheimer's earning a scholarship to Wellesley, and then being told (by a man) that she could work as a researcher, rather than as an on-air personality; Nina Totenberg's unprecedented method of gathering news at the Supreme Court; and Cokie Roberts' growing up in the U.S. Capitol, and then covering those who worked there. These fourwomen changed the way that journalists gathered and reported the news, and they blazed the trail for women (and men) who followed in their footsteps.

[Erin Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my book club, and it wasn't really my vibe. I don't really care about NPR, and I don't understand much about radio, so I was kind of just reading this and not processing anything as I went. There were some moments that really stuck with me, but overall it wasn't for me. I had some trouble following the timeline of the book as well. Susan got an introductory chapter and she started her first job, then we went back in time to before Nina was conceived and followed her story until her first job, then we went back in time again to see Linda's childhood and likewise Cokie's. It was difficult to follow when I wasn't as into it as I could have been, but perhaps someone more interested in NPR would be able to follow it and enjoy the book more.

[JoAn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have listened to NPR off and on throughout my life but I never knew it's history. I found this book to be a fascinating introduction into the "founding mothers" of NPR as well as the chaos, struggle and turmoil of NPR's emergence into radio news. I enjoyed reading about each woman's story and how they became the iconic examples of what could be accomplished in the nation's news media.

[Shannon Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I <3 NPR! I <3 the founding mothers!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

SWE Book Club Nov 2024

This book was fascinating, I could not put it down. I loved learning about the history of public radio, and what a huge impact these women (and others) made. Highly recommend it.

Note: I attended a course on Congress through Georgetown many years ago. One of the guest lecturers was Steve Roberts. He jokingly introduced himself as “the husband of Cokie Roberts”. 😊

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a feel-good read.
I will say that there were some sections that I found much less interesting and that they sometimes took the place of what I actually would have cared about. And also there were way too many uses of the word "pithy" (personal preference).
Otherwise, I felt completely immersed and wanted to be BFFs with Susan Stamberg. The author slipped in so many fun and tender details, and as a big fan of both American history and NPR, I was getting emotional at some parts. Highlights include:
-use of the word schadenfreude
-Mr. Rogers convincing Susan to come on the show AS Daniel Tiger lolololol
-vibey stories about kids falling in love with radio in the 1940s

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love(d) these ladies. Great story, well-told.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, as I am a long time listener to NPR - not quite from the founding, but not much later. And, I love the work of these women. However, the book is not well-written. And there are some factual errors. (The county seat of Montgomery County where Cokie and Steve would have needed to get their marriage license is Rockville, not Rockland - picky, I know, but let's get it right!)

Lisa Napoli's style is to scatter multitudes of quotes throughout each and every paragraph and often several within one sentence. It does not make for easy reading. I persevered and learned quite a bit about those early days. With the factual errors, though, I was always wondering what else was not quite accurate.

If you can get past the problems mentioned, you will get a great understanding of what it was like to be a pioneer woman professional in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. All of us coming after these remarkable women owe them our gratitude!

[Yaaresse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to go with 4.0, but this deserves a bump to 5.0 for two specific things:
1. The author kept herself out of the narrative. It was so refreshing to read a good non-fiction where the author didn't think s/he was the most interesting part of a story. Also? Nice to see someone remembers how to use endnotes to advantage in service of a narrative.
2. Whoever formatted the Kindle edition of this did a fantastic job. That's important because some of the links included lead the reader to some wonderful archives of sound clips.

While this is a collective biography of four of the most distinctive female voices in American media, it is also a biography of National Public Radio. And it is just in time for NPR's 50th birthday. (I doubt that was an accident, but it's still nice timing.)

Remarkable women, all of them. Smart, insightful, persistent, and incredibly intelligent. Some of the crap they put up with just to do the jobs they loved is incredible. More than once, I found myself thinking, "Surely not...that seems more like something that would have happened in the 50s or 60s," but then I'd remember some little incident from the early 80s in my own experiences that I'd discarded as "just how things are" at the time.

I'd like to say we've come a long way since then, but recent headlines prove we really haven't.

Some of the political wrangling and financial issues as late as the mid-80s came as a surprise to me. I vaguely recalled some headlines about financial problems with public radio, but I never realized how bad it was or how close we came to losing NPR altogether.