A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope
Tom Brokaw, 2015
Random House
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812982084
Summary
A powerful memoir of a year of dramatic change—a year spent battling cancer and reflecting on a long, happy, and lucky life.
Tom Brokaw has led a fortunate life, with a strong marriage and family, many friends, and a brilliant journalism career culminating in his twenty-two years as anchor of the NBC Nightly News and as bestselling author.
But in the summer of 2013, when back pain led him to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, his run of good luck was interrupted. He received shocking news: He had multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable blood cancer. Friends had always referred to Brokaw’s "lucky star," but as he writes in this inspiring memoir, "Turns out that star has a dimmer switch."
Brokaw takes us through all the seasons and stages of this surprising year, the emotions, discoveries, setbacks, and struggles—times of denial, acceptance, turning points, and courage. After his diagnosis, Brokaw began to keep a journal, approaching this new stage of his life in a familiar role: as a journalist, determined to learn as much as he could about his condition, to report the story, and help others facing similar battles.
That journal became the basis of this wonderfully written memoir, the story of a man coming to terms with his own mortality, contemplating what means the most to him now, and reflecting on what has meant the most to him throughout his life.
Brokaw also pauses to look back on some of the important moments in his career: memories of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the morning of September 11, 2001, in New York City, and more. Through it all, Brokaw writes in the warm, intimate, natural voice of one of America’s most beloved journalists, giving us Brokaw on Brokaw, and bringing us with him as he navigates pain, procedures, drug regimens, and physical rehabilitation. Brokaw also writes about the importance of patients taking an active role in their own treatment, and of the vital role of caretakers and coordinated care.
Generous, informative, and deeply human, A Lucky Life Interrupted offers a message of understanding and empowerment, resolve and reality, hope for the future and gratitude for a well-lived life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 6, 1940
• Where—Webster, South Dakota, USA
• Education—B.A., University of South Dakota
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Thomas John Brokaw is an American television journalist and author, best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998), A Lucky Life Interrupted (2015), and other books, as well as the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He now serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.
Along with Peter Jennings at ABC News and Dan Rather at CBS News, Brokaw was one of the "Big Three" news anchors in the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s. The three all hosted their network's flagship nightly news programs for over 20 years, and all three started and retired within a year of each other.
Early life
Brokaw is the son of Eugenia (nee Conley), who worked in sales and as a post-office clerk, and Anthony Orville "Red" Brokaw, a construction foreman for the Army Corps of Engineers. His paternal great-grandfather, Richard P. Brokaw, founded the town of Bristol, South Dakota, and the Brokaw House, a small hotel and the first structure in Bristol.
Brokaw's father worked at the Black Hills Ordnance Depot and helped construct Fort Randall Dam; his job often required the family to move around South Dakota in Brokaw's early childhood, but they eventually settled in Yankton, where Brokaw attended high school.
While in high school, Brokaw was governor of South Dakota American Legion Boys State and accompanied then-South Dakota Governor Joe Foss to New York City for a joint appearance on a TV game show. It was to be the beginning of a long relationship with Foss, whom Brokaw would later feature in his 1998 book about World War II veterans, The Greatest Generation.
Brokaw enrolled at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, but majoring in "beer and co-eds," as he later said, dropped out after a year. In tribute to his fun-loving freshman year, the Airliner Bar has named a booth in his honor. Brokaw later returned to school, this time to the University of South Dakota where, in 1964, he received a B.A. in Political Science.
Early career
Brokaw's television career began at KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa, followed by stints at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska, and WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1966, he joined NBC News, reporting from California and anchoring the 11 p.m. news for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. In 1973, NBC named Brokaw White House correspondent, covering the Watergate scandal, and anchor of the Saturday editions of Nightly News. He became host of NBC's Today Show in 1976 and remained in the job until 1982.
In April, 1982, he began co-anchoring NBC's Nightly News from New York with Roger Mudd in Washington, D.C. After a year, NBC News president Reuven Frank concluded that the dual-anchor program was not working and selected Brokaw to be sole anchor—NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw began on September 5, 1983.
Nightly News highlights
On November 9, 1989, Brokow scored a major coup as the first English-language broadcast journalist to report the opening of the Berlin Wall. He had attended a televised press conference in East Berlin in which the East German Politburo announced its decision to allow East Berliners to cross to the West without prior approval. Asked when the wall would be open, the spokesman glanced through his notes and said, "immediately, without delay." That comment touched off a stampede of East Berliners to the Wall. Later that evening, while stationed on the west side of the Brandenburg Gate, Brokaw reported on the announcement and the resulting pandemonium in East Berlin.
As anchor, Brokaw conducted the first one-on-one American television interviews with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He and Katie Couric hosted a prime-time news magazine, Now, that aired from 1993–94 before being folded into the multi-night Dateline NBC.
On September 11, 2001, Brokaw joined Katie Couric and Matt Lauer around 9:30 a.m., following the live attack on the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and continued anchoring all day, until after midnight. On the collapse of the second tower, Brokaw observed, "This is war. This is a declaration and an execution of an attack on the United States."
He continued to anchor coverage to midnight on the following two days. Later that month, he received one of the mailed letters containing anthrax as part of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Brokaw was unharmed, but two NBC News employees were infected.
In 2002, NBC announced that Brokaw would retire as anchor of the NBC Nightly News following the 2004 Presidential election. He would be succeeded by Brian Williams but would remain as part-time analyst, anchor and producer of documentary programs. Nearly 16 million viewers watched his final Nightly News broadcast on December 1, 2004. He closed the show with
That's Nightly News for this Wednesday night. I'm Tom Brokaw. You'll see Brian Williams here tomorrow night, and I'll see you along the way.
Brokaw was considered the most popular news personality in the U.S. He moved Nightly News to first place in the Nielsen ratings in late 1996 and held on to the top spot for the remainder of his tenure, placing him ahead of ABC's Peter Jennings and CBS's Dan Rather.
Together the three anchors ushered in the era of the TV news anchor as a lavishly compensated, globe-trotting star in the 1980s. The magnitude of any event could be measured by whether Brokaw and his counterparts showed up on the scene. Brokaw's retirement in December, 2004, followed by Rather's ouster in March, 2005, and Jennings' death in August, 2005, brought that era to a close.
After Nightly News
After leaving the anchor chair, Brokaw remained at NBC as Special Correspondent, providing periodic reports for Nightly News. He served as an NBC analyst during the 2008 presidential election campaign and moderated the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain at Belmont University. He reported documentaries for the Discovery Channel and the History Channel and in 2006 delivered one of the eulogies during the state funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford.
When Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert died in June, 2008, Brokaw served as interim host until December when David Gregory was named Russert's replacement.
On May 29, 2011, Brokaw began hosting The Boys in the Hall, a baseball documentary series for Fox Sports Net.
In December 2012, Brokaw starred in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's annual Christmas concert, with live audiences of 84,000 and a nationally televised broadcast titled Home for the Holidays.
In April 2014, a new broadcast facility opened on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot and was named the Brokaw News Center. The facility houses KNBC, Telemundo owned-and-operated station KVEA, and the Los Angeles bureau of NBC News.
Personal life
Since 1962, Brokaw has been married to author and 1959 Miss South Dakota Meredith Lynn Auld. They have three daughters: Jennifer, Andrea, and Sarah Brokaw and his wife spend considerable time at their ranch near Livingston, Montana, which they bought in 1989.
In August, 2013, Brokaw was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the Mayo Clinic. Following a treatment regime, Brokaw and his physicians announced that they were "very encouraged with his progress." Brokaw has continued to work for NBC throughout his treatments and announced in December, 2014, that his cancer was in full remission. His treatment is the subject of his 2015 memoir A Lucky Life Interrupted. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/1/2016.)
Book Reviews
Brokaw doesn’t paste a smiley face on his story. Again and again, the book returns to stories of loss but also of grace, luck and the beauty of having another swing at bat.
Washington Post
Engaging...[with] the kind of insight that is typical of Mr. Brokaw’s approach to life and now to illness.
Wall Street Journal
It’s impossible not to be inspired by Brokaw’s story, and his willingness to share it.
Los Angeles Times
The former NBC News anchor has applied the fact-finding skills and straightforward candor that were his stock in trade during his reporting days to A Lucky Life Interrupted.
USA Today
(Starred review.) A powerful memoir of battling cancer and facing mortality . . . Through the prism of his own illness, Brokaw looks at the larger picture of aging in America.
Booklist
Brokaw’s account lacks the depth and fire of Christopher Hitchens’ Mortality (2013), but it belongs on the same shelf as a wise and oddly comforting look at the toughest news of all.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
This set of questions has been generously submitted to LitLovers by Angela Scott, better known as "Library Princess." Many thanks, Angela.
1. Tom Brokaw is a man who does not slow down, until that is, he is diagnosed with cancer. How does the title A Lucky Life Interrupted reflect this?
2. As a well known public persona, do you feel that Tom Brokaw was a recipient of privileged healthcare due to who he is? Do you feel he received a better quality of treatment than an average person who would go into the Mayo facilities?
3. As a reporter, Tom Brokaw’s job is report on other people’s lives. What do you think of the fact that he kept his diagnosis quiet and hidden for such a long period of time, including from close friends and even his employers?
4. What were your thoughts on the flashbacks of his life throughout the book? Did you enjoy a particularly one over the others? Were they distracting from the story?
5. Tom Brokaw has to deal with mortality as he takes this journey, through the deaths of others who have suffered from multiple myeloma and other various cancers to the death of his brother through Alzheimer’s. How do you think this changed his perspective on life? Which deaths affected him the most?
6. What are your thoughts on cancer? Do you know anyone close who has suffered through it? Would you recommend this book to someone who was going through this disease or their families?
7. He says, "It was a personal goal to remain-to remain unbroken." How did his approach to cancer keep him going? How can a determination to fight make or break a person?
(Questions courtesy of Angela Scott. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution to both Angela and LitLovers. Thanks.)