cover image Come to Think of It: Notes on the End of the Millennium

Come to Think of It: Notes on the End of the Millennium

Daniel Schorr. Viking Books, $24.95 (382pp) ISBN 978-0-670-01873-4

Originally broadcast on NPR from 1991 onward, this collection of news commentary from renowned veteran reporter Schorr succeed in two ways: as vivid snapshots of recent history, and the reaction to it, in America and abroad; and as canny evidence of how little really changes in a decade and a half. The author (Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism) and NPR senior news analyst tackles deja; vu-inducing topics like dissatisfaction over the Iraq policy of President Bush in the early '90s (a chief executive ""who attends orchestrated events and expresses what sounds like orchestrated empathy""), and a Clinton presidential campaign facing character issues and a ""gotcha"" press mentality. In the years since, the repeat Emmy and Peabody award winner takes aim at issues large and small (Waco, the Unabomber, terrorism, abortion, the ""State of Peace on Earth""), and especially the changing nature of the news business, including eulogies to industry greats (Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal), coverage analysis (the O.J. trial, Monica Lewinsky) and the erosion of the first amendment. The short pieces that populate this volume offer shrewd, sure assessment that makes great bite-sized reading for any fan of politics, Schorr or NPR news.