Often the best books are those that you have to talk yourself into reading.
A good friend called me and insisted that I read Brothers, Rivals and Victors by Jonathan Jordan. Naturally, I thought "yeah, maybe when I get some time". However, he was insistent. He told me to be sure to read it before we talked again.
In spite of that kind of persistence, which usually flips my "make me" circuit breaker, I reluctantly began to read the book.
Wow! This is something special. Jordan has written not just another history of World War II but a superior glimpse inside the personalities of some of the most extraordinary leaders America has ever produced. Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley, West Point educated generals who saved the world from the Nazis are each analyzed with insight and compassion that offers them to you as never before. It is impossible to read this book without coming away with an understanding of how very different yet complimentary their personalities were and how it all miraculously resulted in victory for America and the free world. Gone are the cultivated public persona's of each man. The fragile chemistry that saved us from Hitler's megalomania is in sharp focus here. You will realize, perhaps for the first time, just how precarious the Allied victory was. This is fascinating stuff.
Since I read books like I watch TV--guy style--I like to have six or seven books going at the same time. That way, if I need a break from the war, I can pick another very different sort of read. Monitor, take 2, is perhaps something only media burnouts will enjoy, or maybe you're old enough to remember enjoying a weekend radio program called Monitor on NBC. Monitor was the creation of the broadcast genius of Pat Weaver the man who gave us TV's Today and Tonight, and also his daughter, Sigourney Weaver.
Monitor was forty hours of radio fascination that ran every Saturday and Sunday on the NBC radio network from 1955-1975. Features, information, comedy, music, weather and some of the greatest radio talent ever to crack a mic came together as pure audio magic. Dave Garroway, Gene Rayburn, Ed McMahon, Henry Morgan, Bill Cullen, Jim Lowe and eventually people like Big Wilson, Murray the K, Don Imus and Robert W. Morgan hosted what became the weekend soundtrack for millions of Americans. It was radio at its finest. Dennis Hart, a longtime broadcasting professional has put together an exceptional recollection of a "must listen" experience.
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| Dave Garroway and the 1955 Monitor crew |
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| Gene Rayburn, Monitor's longest running host |
Both of these books are available from Amazon.
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