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This is one of the best audio books I've listened to. Tim Russert is an excellent narrator and he has an interesting story to tell. I promise you'll not be bored and if you grew up in the 40's and 50's you'll most certainly be able to relate to his growing up years.
Item was a gift, so have not actually read, but recipient has said book is an excellent read. Book very interesting and hard to put down. Recipient has expressed interest in other books of the same nature including Tom Brokaw's "The Next Generation."
"Big Russ and Me" probably will appeal to all generations for all the reasons that Tim Russert intended it to, but Baby Boomers, i.e., Russert's generation, probably will enjoy the book even more on account of the memories it evokes, intentionally or not, of growing up in the '50s and early '60s. My daughter, now in her 20s, bought this book for me to pass the time during a long trip that we recently took to visit my mother. That's what hooked me, more than the story of the relationship between Russert and his father, although this too, which is the book's primary theme, is indeed interesting and Russert writes about it skillfully and engagingly. It's a book that I had heard about before but had never once considered reading. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. If you are a Baby Boomer, this book's for you. Even if you're not, it's still a good read.
Reading this after his passing, I found it fascinating how many of his early lessons revolved around his mortality. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Tim Russert shares many stories from his chilhood about his father, baseball, school, and important days in history like the assassinations of John F. Hearing Russert discuss his admiration for his son and the time they spent together makes the story even more powerful. Of course, I especially loved his stories about baseball in Buffalo and growing up a Yankee fan. An unexpected bonus was learning new things about Yankee icon Yogi Berra. Indeed we learn a lot from our fathers, and it seems we learn a lot when we become fathers too. I also anjoyed hearing about the lessons he learned from his three most influential teachers.
My husband and I were born and raised in Buffalo, New York and it was a very special place to be raised. Also, he seems to pretty much discount his Mother in this idylic childhood and her influence on him, which must have been great. There is something about this City that stays with you as "home" all of your life. Although, for the most part, we enjoyed Tim Russert's book because we admired him and it made us nostolgic, it had a wee too much of the "Cleaver" family to it. As his parents seperated down the road, not all could have been that wonderful. However, we still thought he was a true, hard-working, well-prepared journalist and not a celebrity interviewer as so many newscasters are.
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