Outside the Box: A Memoir

News junkies, and probably many casual viewers, will remember Sherr from her long stint as an investigative journalist on ABC's 20/20 and World News Tonight, where she primarily covered politics and the space program. Even Sherr's fans may not know that she started out as a print journalist for Conde Nast and the AP, which helps explain why she not only has something to say in this career-spanning memoir, but can say it well. With 40 years of industry experience, Sherr plays witness to some major changes in journalism: ""As one of the first wave of women in the business, I've not only covered the feminist movement; I've been part of it, stepping into jobs that didn't exist until I got there."" Sherr has a talent for visceral details, giving the events she covers a you-are-there immediacy; ""I not only saw the first NASA shuttle launch, I felt it, in my heart and my chest, as the sound waves from the pad literally reverberated against my body, pressing me back to earth as the hundred-ton orbiter headed towards weightlessness."" She also shares a good chunk of her personal life, avoiding self-indulgence to share the gritty, sad stuff of real life: her father's death, her husband's losing battle with cancer, and her own successful struggle against colon cancer. Wise, warm and engaging throughout, the book provides resonant confirmation for Sherr's belief that ""History matters, and even the smallest life is history.""