Big Russ and Me : Father and Son: Lessons of Life

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Big Russ and Me : Father and Son: Lessons of Life

Author(s):

Tim Russert

Binding: Paperback
Format(s): Bargain Price
List Price: $13.95

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Tim Russert is perhaps the most admired man in television news. As NBC's senior vice president and Washington bureau chief, he has helped shape the way today's news is reported and analyzed. As producer and moderator of Meet the Press, he has created and sustained the longest running TV news program of all time with panache and dedication. And as the anchor of The Tim Russert Show, he has garnered a huge and growing fan base with his quick wit and straight-talking candor. And every Tim Russert fan knows that Tim's #1 hero, hands down, is his dad--Big Russ.

BIG RUSS & ME offers a charming, down-to-earth look at Russert's roots, growing up a hometown guy in working-class Buffalo in the 1950s. From the indelible bond that links him to his father, to the lessons learned from his old-fashioned Catholic upbringing, from his passion for the Buffalo Bills, to the importance of patriotism in everyday life, Russert's reflections hit the very epicenter of American values.

Rich with personal anecdotes and Russert's easygoing style and straight-talking charm, BIG RUSS & ME will be embraced by his myriad fans--and will delight dads across the country on Father's Day and for years to come.

Amazon.com Review

Veteran newsman and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert is known for his direct and unpretentious style and in this charming memoir he explains why. Russert's father is profiled as a plainspoken World War II veteran who worked two blue-collar jobs while raising four kids in South Buffalo but the elder Russert's lessons on how to live an honest, disciplined, and ethical life are shown to be universal. Big Russ and Me, a sort of Greatest Generation meets Tuesdays with Morrie, could easily have become a sentimental pile of mush with a son wistfully recalling the wisdom of his beloved dad. But both Russerts are far too down-to-earth to let that happen and the emotional content of the book is made more direct, accessible, and palatable because of it. The relationship between father and son, contrary to what one would think of as essential to a riveting memoir, seems completely healthy and positive as Tim, the academically gifted kid and later the esteemed TV star and political operative relies on his old man, a career sanitation worker and newspaper truck driver, for advice. Big Russ and Me also traces Russert's life from working-class kid to one of broadcast journalism's top interviewers by introducing various influential figures who guided him along the way, including Jesuit teachers, nuns, his dad's drinking buddies, and, most notably, the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whom Russert helped get elected in 1976. Plenty of entertaining anecdotes are served up along the way from schoolyard pranks to an attempt to book Pope John Paul II on the Today Show. Though not likely to revolutionize modern thought, Big Russ and Me will provide fathers and sons a chance to reflect on lessons learned between generations. --Charlie Williams

Customer Reviews

best audio book

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.

Excellent

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."

A good read

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. 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! "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. 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. If you are a Baby Boomer, this book's for you. Even if you're not, it's still a good read.

Passionate man reveals lessons that shaped his character and work ethic

Tim Russert shares many stories from his chilhood about his father, baseball, school, and important days in history like the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. 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. Reading this after his passing, I found it fascinating how many of his early lessons revolved around his mortality. Hearing Russert discuss his admiration for his son and the time they spent together makes the story even more powerful. 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.

Buffalo native

My husband and I were born and raised in Buffalo, New York and it was a very special place to be raised. 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. Also, he seems to pretty much discount his Mother in this idylic childhood and her influence on him, which must have been great. 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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