Reporting Live - by Lesley Stahl (Paperback)

About the Book

In lively, down-to-earth narrative, "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl reveals how she has kept her focus--and her sense of humor--in the competitive, often sexist world of political reporting. 16-page photo insert.

Book Synopsis

Lesley Stahl's job offer from CBS came with an ultimatum -- "if you can't start tomorrow, forget it." The year was 1972, and opportunities for women in network television were rare. With the same determination that would define her career, she promptly departed Boston, went to Washington, and began her ascent to the top of broadcast journalism. In a male-dominated world, Stahl established herself as a "scoopster" and a "door kicker," breaking some of the most important stories in Washington, including Watergate. She would cover the next three presidents, witnessing the disintegration of Jimmy Carter's presidency, the rise and fall and rise again of Ronald Reagan's, and the unpretentious, regular-guy quality of George Bush's.
In telling her story, Stahl touches on themes that have defined the later part of this century: the changing role of the press in politics, television's coming of age, and the dilemma of the professional woman. With witty anecdotes, wise observations, and never a hair out of place, Stahl provides an insightful and entertaining look at her world and ours from behind the reporter's microphone.

From the Back Cover

Lesley Stahl's job offer from CBS came with an ultimatum -- "if you can't start tomorrow, forget it". The year was 1972, and opportunities for women in network television were rare. With the same determination that would define her career, she promptly departed Boston, went to Washington, and began her ascent to the top of broadcast journalism. In a male-dominated world, Stahl established herself as a "scoopster" and a "door kicker", breaking some of the most important stories in Washington, including Watergate. She would cover the next three presidents, witnessing the disintegration of Jimmy Carter's presidency, the rise and fall and rise again of Ronald Reagan's, and the unpretentious, regular-guy quality of George Bush's.

In telling her story, Stahl touches on themes that have defined the later part of this century: the changing role of the press in politics, television's coming of age, and the dilemma of the professional woman. With witty anecdotes, wise observations, and never a hair out of place, Stahl provides an insightful and entertaining look at her world and ours from behind the reporter's microphone.

Review Quotes

Robin Toner The New York Times Book Review What shines through this memoir is how much Stahl loved the work....She became a "stakeout queen," the toughest questioner around, a woman who never passed up an assignment.

Publishers Weekly Stahl offers...an unstinting behind-the-scenes look at the nation's one-time premier news organization and...assesses herself as unflinchingly as the political figures she's covered.

The Arizona Republic ...written in exactly the voice you know from Stahl's reports on 60 Minutes and other shows....It's an amiable book...and fun to read.

Anthony Day Los Angeles Times In the skillfully written Reporting Live, Lesley Stahl...weaves together several compelling stories about the way politics, and the media that cover it, have changed through the years....[It] is the story of Stahl herself, bright, terribly ambitious, and touchingly vulnerable....

Dan Rather If you care about good journalism, or if you care about the choices made by working women today, you'll want to read this book. This is a self-portrait of a hard-driving professional -- and a caring wife, mother, daughter, and friend -- who never stops asking the hard questions...Lesley Stahl's Reporting Live is too good to keep quiet about.

Doug Wyatt Savannah Morning News The personality emerging from this book is that of a woman at once funny and hard-driven, proud but hardly wonder-struck by her own accomplishments.

Leigh Rich Rocky Mountain News Stahl's autobiography is a delectable read. Stahl is convivial, humorous, and self-aware revisiting her 20-year career...each chapter is intriguing, revealing of the political and social mores of the day.

Marti Davis The Knoxville News-Sentinel CBS newswoman Lesley Stahl provides an up-close look at five presidents and an insider's glimpse of CBS News in this readable memoir.

Michael Farkash The Hollywood Reporter It's the carefully wrought tidbits about Watergate and other presidential misbehavior that make this book stand out, elevating the story to more like a thriller.

William R. Wineke Wisconsin State Journal Read this book and you will gain new insight into how the news is produced, into the nature of the men and women who run our country -- and into the personal life of an interesting woman.

About the Author

Lesley Stahl has been a reporter for CBS News for more than twenty-five years. She was White House correspondent for the CBS Evening News during the Carter, Reagan, and Bush administrations; the host of Face the Nation from 1983 to 1991; and has been a correspondent for 60 Minutes for the last eight years. She lives in New York City with her husband, Aaron Latham.