A Long Way from Home, Tom Brokaw
A Long Way from Home, Tom Brokaw
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A Long Way from Home
Growing Up in the American Heartland

Author: Tom Brokaw

Narrator: Tom Brokaw

Abridged: 2 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/05/2002


Synopsis

Reflections on America and the American experience as he has lived and observed it by the bestselling author of The Greatest Generation, whose iconic career in journalism has spanned more than fifty years

From his parents’ life in the Thirties, on to his boyhood along the Missouri River and on the prairies of South Dakota in the Forties, into his early journalism career in the Fifties and the tumultuous Sixties, up to the present, this personal story is a reflection on America in our time. Tom Brokaw writes about growing up and coming of age in the heartland, and of the family, the people, the culture and the values that shaped him then and still do today.

His father, Red Brokaw, a genius with machines, followed the instincts of Tom’s mother Jean, and took the risk of moving his small family from an Army base to Pickstown, South Dakota, where Red got a job as a heavy equipment operator in the Army Corps of Engineers’ project building the Ft. Randall dam along the Missouri River. Tom Brokaw describes how this move became the pivotal decision in their lives, as the Brokaw family, along with others after World War II, began to live out the American Dream: community, relative prosperity, middle class pleasures and good educations for their children.

“Along the river and in the surrounding hills, I had a Tom Sawyer boyhood,” Brokaw writes; and as he describes his own pilgrimage as it unfolded—from childhood to love, marriage, the early days in broadcast journalism, and beyond—he also reflects on what brought him and so many Americans of his generation to lead lives a long way from home, yet forever affected by it.

Praise for A Long Way from Home

“[A] love letter to the . . . people and places that enriched a ‘Tom Sawyer boyhood.’ Brokaw . . . has a knack for delivering quirky observations on small-town life. . . . Bottom line: Tom’s terrific.”—People

“Breezy and straightforward . . . much like the assertive TV newsman himself.”—Los Angeles Times

“Brokaw writes with disarming honesty.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Brokaw evokes a sense of community, a pride of citizenship, and a confidence in American ideals that will impress his readers.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

About The Author

Tom Brokaw is the author of seven bestsellers: The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, An Album of Memories, Boom!, The Time of Our Lives, A Long Way from Home, and A Lucky Life Interrupted. A native of South Dakota, he graduated from the University of South Dakota, and began his journalism career in Omaha and Atlanta before joining NBC News in 1966. Brokaw was the White House correspondent for NBC News during Watergate, and from 1976 to 1981 he anchored Today on NBC. He was the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw from 1983 to 2005. He continues to report for NBC News, producing long-form documentaries and providing expertise during breaking news events. Brokaw has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including two DuPonts, three Peabody Awards, and several Emmys, including one for lifetime achievement. In 2014, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He lives in New York and Montana.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Maria on October 22, 2022

Absolutely brilliant. Even if you are not a fan of Tom Brokaw, his book crystalizes a long-gone period of American history from an unbiased view.......more

Goodreads review by Garth on November 06, 2017

The American TV personality writes of his humble beginnings in South Dakota amid his working-class family in farm country. Many aspects of his upbringing are all too familiar to me. A father who never got past grade 6 before he went to work full time, parents who grew up in the height of the Depress......more

Goodreads review by Larry on March 10, 2023

As a self-confessed retrophile, I enjoyed the stew out of this book. Although Brokaw was born two decades before I was, I can identify with many of the experiences and values of his life. Brokaw was born in 1940, and before I had even read his book, I had often thought that 1940 was the optimum year......more

Goodreads review by Keith on July 14, 2015

Good account of his early life. Boy from working class family in South Dakota eventually makes good!......more

Goodreads review by John on December 16, 2010

Brokaw's autobiography is best when he focuses less on himself, and more on the geography, culture, and people that shaped his life. Though I always have respected his reporting, this book reads just a little too much like a personal scorecard in which the protagonist triumphs over every obstacle. B......more


Quotes

“[A] love letter to the...people and places that enriched a ‘Tom Sawyer boyhood.’ Brokaw...has a knack for delivering quirky observations on small-town life....Bottom line: Tom’s terrific.”
—People

“Breezy and straightforward...much like the assertive TV newsman himself.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Brokaw writes with disarming honesty.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Brokaw evokes a sense of community, a pride of citizenship, and a confidence in American ideals that will impress his readers.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch