Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War » (Reprint)

Philip Seib is a professor of journalism and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California. He is the author and editor of many books, including Headline Diplomacy: How News Coverage Affects Foreign Policy; The Global Journalist: News and Conscience in a World of Conflict; Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped by War; Media and Conflict in the 21st Century; Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War (Potomac Books, 2006); and New Media and the New Middle East. He is coeditor of the journal Media, War, and Conflict and lives in Pasadena, California.

The broadcasting pioneer at the nexus between journalism and foreign policy

Library Journal

Before the iconic Edward R. Murrow challenged Sen. Joseph McCarthy on television, he battled Nazism and Americans' World War II isolationism on the radio. As Seib shows in this succinct account, Murrow's groundbreaking CBS radio broadcasts from wartime London from 1939 to 1941 helped mobilize the United States to join the war. Seib (journalism, Marquette Univ.; The Player: Christy Mathewson, Baseball, and the American Century) examines Murrow's role in establishing the burgeoning medium of news radio as an effective tool in disseminating information in general and political propaganda in particular; FDR and Churchill were among the political figures who appreciated the power of information to shape public opinion and governmental policy. While emphasizing Murrow's "This is London" broadcasts during the Blitz and the interconnections between media and politics, Seib also provides glimpses into Murrow's personal life and character. For more in-depth information on Murrow himself and the historical significance of broadcast journalism, readers can turn to Bob Edwards's recent Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism. Seib's well-documented book is recommended for academic and large public libraries, especially those with communications or World War II collections.-Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.