Outside the Box: A Memoir

by Lynn Sherr

ABC-TV's Lynn Sherr writes a savvy, witty, and moving memoir about events that have shaped her life and her career as one of the first women to break through in broadcast television

As a reporter for 40 years, most of them on television, Lynn Sherr has brought clarity and insight to many of the most compelling news events of our day—from politics to murder trials to the space program. Now this widely respected award-winning journalist lets us in on what she's seen "inside the box" as she steps outside for a reality check. She tells how television journalism has changed over the years, for better and for worse, and explores the critical state of TV news today. Her accounts of the political and cultural upheavals she covered also make this a social history of our time.

When she first began in the industry, newspaper editors bluntly told her, "We don't hire girls," but Lynn persevered, both covering and experiencing the emergence of modern feminism. All that despite being fired from her first TV job! She also addresses the heartbreak of her husband's death followed by her own battle with colon cancer. Lynn Sherr opens up about those painful times with an honesty that will touch and inspire readers. Her personal accounts—growing up in Philadelphia, where her father was a pioneering professional basketball player; suddenly becoming a stepmom; slipping off to commune with giraffes—all underscore her insistence on always keeping one foot outside the box.

Genres: Memoir, Journalism

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

Broadcast journalist and writer Lynn Sherr has been swimming since she was a toddler, learning first by watching frogs in a Pennsylvania lake. She has since expanded both her strokes and her waterways. For more than thirty years, she was an award-winning correspondent for ABC News. She is the author of many books, including Tall Blondes: A Book about Giraffes; Outside the Box: A Memoir, and Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words. She lives in New York.You can contact her at LynnSwims@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter@LynnSherr and at Facebook.com/SallyRideBio.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to skim through some portions of this book in order to make it to the end. I'm sure Lynn is a very nice person, but I felt she got mired down in minutae. The numerous passages devoted to her father's basketball days were monotonous and went on for far too long. Her recollections of the stories she's covered throughout her career were quite often boring and could have been summarized. Where the book did redeem itself for me, however, were the portions about her personal life -- meeting her husband, Larry, being a stepmom to his three sons, his bout with cancer, her bout with cancer. Although I felt that she was a little harsh on her friends' behavior about the cancer, it is, after all, her story and her opinions.

[Brian Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A career I envy...

[Huguette Larochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow love the book . she talk about events that she work on on 20/20.
and the struggle in her life and the one she love , well done .