The American Journey of Eric Sevareid

This straightforward biography of journalist Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) is worth reading. Author Raymond Schroth details Sevareid's upbringing in rural North Dakota and Minneapolis, his hiring by Ed Murrow, his long career with CBS, and his less than perfect retirement. Readers also learn about Sevareid's adventurous youth, troubled marriages, and bouts with melancholy and emotional insecurity. The book makes a nice companion to Sevareid's superb 1946 autobiography NOT SO WILD A DREAM, but also covers the man's later years. Sevareid moved millions with his sternly eloquent wisdom as he analyzed events for CBS radio and (later) television. The nation lost an important voice when CBS forced him out at age 65 - under a mandatory retirement policy they've since dropped. Sadly, he never wrote much in retirement, nor become a regular contributor to National Public Radio as have aged ex-CBS stalwarts Daniel Schorr, Richard B. Hotellet, and the late Bob Trout. The author is a Jesuit instructor of journalism and former boyhood fan of Sevareid's broadcasts. Like THE MURROW BOYS, this is a nice, readable companion to Sevareid's superb autobiography.

The author's political beliefs frame this narrative. Does a good job of telling Sevareid's life, but Sevareid himself did a much better job in "Not So Wild a Dream." This book talks about Sevareid's womanizing and so on, but really does little to explain his misery. It does recount his rise and fall and is worthwhile because it does include some good quotes from Sevareid's analytical pieces (he detested that they be considered commentaries) on "The CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite." Unfortunately, this book just seems to set up a wall between the author and its subject that is difficult to explain. You get a much better understanding of the man in "Not So Wild a Dream," and the book "Murrow's Boys."