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The Powers That Be
by David Halberstam
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Knopf (1979-04-12)
ISBN: 0394503813
EAN: 9780394503813
Dewy Decimal #: 070.40973
Hardcover: 771 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 1979-04-12
SKU: 08110035
Condition: Very Good Good
Comments: Third Printing May 1979. Hardback in very good condition with no markings. Dust jacket in good condition with minor shelf wear, chipping, and back of jacket and last 75 pages of text wavy from prior fampness. Tight binding and clear crisp text. Nice book.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Crackling with the personalities, conflicts, and ambitions that transformed the media from something that followed the news to something that formed it, "The Powers That Be" is David Halberstam's forceful account of the rise of modern media as an instrument of political power, published here with a new introduction by the author. Beginning with FDR's masterful use of radio to establish the sense of a personal, benevolently paternal relationship with the American people and culminating in the discovery and coverage of the Watergate break-in, Halberstam tracks the firm establishment of the media as a potent means of shaping both public opinion and public policy.He tells the story through vivid, intimate portraits of the men, women, and politics behind four key media organizations: CBS and its board chairman William S. Paley; "Time" magazine and its cofounder Henry Luce; the "Washington Post" and successive publishers Philip Graham and his wife, Katherine; and, the "Los Angeles Times" and publishers Norman Chandler and his son, Otis.
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Customer Reviews
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David Halberstam strikes again!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-09-05
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is big and thick and it is hard to put down. It opens the reader to the media-the reporters-the owners-the news broadcasters and the men and women behind the scenes. He tells in vivid detail how the reporters all over the world as well as covering wars are supported or not by the publications that put them there. And he vividly relates the love-hate relationship of the above people with the various presidents of the USA. I have recommended this book to everyone who will listen to me. I would go on a book tour to get people to read it.!
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The Power That Was
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-05-07
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
David Halberstam proves again what a thorough and engaging journalist/historian he was. He presents a detailed account of the rise of the great media families and individuals of the 20th century without being pedantic or tedious. Anyone who wants to understand The L.A. Times, The Washington Post, Time or CBS should start here. The book unfortunately highlights the huge loss that Halberstam's death represents.
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Revealing Look behind the Scenes
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-03-26
5 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Author David Halberstam takes us behind the scenes as he analyzes U.S. media from the 1940-1970's, showing many factors and internal squabbles that influence the medium. The author shows how a mix of professionalism, sloppiness, arrogance, and favorites affects what the media reports, plus how it reports. We see how the media sometimes kowtows to corporate sponsors, and often allows itself to be manipulated. Consider the 2004 campaign, when the media routinely filmed President Bush before cheering crowds, but never his secret service illegally detaining silent dissenters at rallies. Readers also learn about skilled leaders like Edward R. Murrow, capable if imperfect executives like William Paley (CBS) and Katherine Graham (Washington Post), and shysters like Henry Luce (TIME) that avoid truths when they don't fit the agenda.
This book arrived in 1979, before the advent of Internet and most cable news. Still its lessons remain appropriate, even if media often fails to live up to the hopes of the founding fathers and the First Amendment. Halberstam is a talented observer who capably follows George Selby, Theodore H. White, and many others with a critical eye towards the media. I gave the book just four stars because the prose is a bit thick, but this remains an important read.
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Read if you DARE
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-08-23
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Read all the other reviews for the media impacting intent which is only a small part of Halverstam's real message in spite of the title of this epoch. Halberstam's media message ranges from imformative to scarry.
But that which will stick with me forever is the way Halberstam delivers the frailty and fate of America to a mere mortal, the President of the United States. Eisenhower fiddles, Kennedy charms, Johnson screams and Nixon frightens. It took Halberstam seven years to research and write this book and after you read it you will wonder how he did it so fast, a monumental effort.
Fortunately the truth is often downright funny. Nixon's twenty eight year old publicity man making a side comment that Nixon looks like he drops down out of his closet every morning in the same rumbled suit and badly in need of a shave.
Halberstam conveys how power was for the taking and that those who had it developed it primarily in accordance with their own agendas, personal or family politics and use it and us in the process.
No matter that this is now just history ending with Watergate. Halberstam's real message is that the circumstances he describes will remain the same in any generation.
The Powers That Be may change the way you think of power and how it affects you.
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Amazing Book--Must Reading for All
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-06-26
11 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this book years ago and it still sticks with me. As a reporter in Vietnam, Halberstam was a thorn in the side of the Johnson and Nixon administration. He was watched by Nixon's plumbers and the FBI; Nixon thought he was a subversive. What he is is an exceptionally perceptive historian. In this book he follows the growth of the media industry from newsprint to magazines, radio and television. He told the Edward R. Murrow story before anybody else and his details on Watergate are even more frightening than Woodward and Bernstein's "All the President's Men." Halberstam seems to have that unique capacity to crawl inside the heads of people like Luce who gave us Time magazine. From their perspective, and those of everyday reporters, we see the struggle to balance grasping for the truth and the glory of the headline. We begin to understand how McCarthy could rise to power by using the deadline to sneak in enuedos about people. The author does a masterful job of showing the frustration of reporters and editors and how they finally overcame McCarthy's sinister power. This is an excellent book, not only for journalist but also for those who wish to understand the power of the media in shaping our world.
Please rate this review. Thanks.
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