Never Give Up

In this affable memoir, former NBC Nightly News anchor Brokaw (The Fall of Richard Nixon) draws a line from his parents’ perseverance through world wars and the Great Depression through to his own values. “I thank God for their enduring legacy of quiet courage and common persistence,” he writes, focusing especially on the latter. Brokaw recounts Red and Jean’s courtship and reflects on the work ethic he gleaned from them, masterfully bringing them to life through fond recollections—he writes of his mother excitedly waking him the morning after Harry Truman won the 1948 presidential election (to which he attributes his “lifelong journalistic passion for politics”) as if it happened yesterday, and touchingly recalls a radio tribute to his father on the day of his funeral, effectively giving the talkative Red “the last word” on his own life. Photographs woven throughout the text, including an image of Red’s watch with a small picture of Jean on the face, further enhance the sense of tenderness. Brokaw constructs this memorable family history with all the concision and color of a good journalistic profile. It’s hard not to be moved. (June)