Mike Wallace
A Life
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The untold story of how the world's most feared TV reporter transformed his inner darkness into a journalistic juggernaut that riveted millions and redefined the landscape of television news
In his four decades as the front man for 60 Minutes, the most successful show in television history, Mike Wallace earned the distinction of being hyperaggressive, self-assured, and unflinching in his riveting exposés of injustice and corruption. His unrivaled career includes interviews with every major newsmaker of the late twentieth century, from Martin Luther King to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Behind this intimidating facade, however, Wallace was profoundly depressed and haunted by demons that nearly drove him to suicide. Despite reaching the pinnacle of his profession, Wallace harbored deep insecurities about his credentials as a journalist. For half his life, he was more "TV Personality" than reporter, dabbling as a quiz show emcee, commercial pitchman, and actor. But in the wake of a life-changing personal tragedy, Wallace transformed himself, against all odds, into the most talked-about newsman in America.
Peter Rader's Mike Wallace: A Life tells the story of a courageous man who triumphed over personal adversity and redefined the landscape of television news.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's not widely known that 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace started in Chicago radio-television of the 1940s as actor Myron Wallace, appearing in Ma Perkins and other soap operas. And earlier, as Rader reminds readers in this colorful biography, Wallace was The Green Hornet's announcer. With Night Beat in the late 1950s, after having moved to New York, the ambitious Wallace became an "overnight celebrity" because of his aggressive, rapid-fire interviews: "Night after night, Mike eviscerated them like a matador." Abrasive bulldog tactics became his signature style, and when 60 Minutes began in 1968, Wallace's investigative reporting and "ambush interviews" eventually brought him both controversy but also acclaim as one of the best broadcast journalists. Wallace has written his own memoirs more than once (Close Encounters in 1984; Between You and Me, 2005), which spliced in memorable interviews. Rader fills in the gaps with comprehensive coverage that includes accusations of "juvenile" sexual antics, self-doubts, lawsuits, the 1962 accidental death of his son, failed marriages, bouts with depression, a suicide attempt, and his "Jekyll and Hyde personality sometimes magnanimous and charming, other times almost sadistic." Influenced by his screenwriting, Rader (Waterworld) employs a cinematic writing style for this vivid portrait of Wallace set against a backdrop of technological television innovations.
Customer Reviews
Excellent and Complete Portrait of a Legendary Correspondent
Rader has penned a superb biography of the hard-hitting journalist whose name is synonymous with the practice of investigative journalism. It’s well written & entertaining - a great read!