The Good Times

by Russell Baker

Book Overview

In this sequel to GROWING UP, Russell Baker relates the striving of his early career and contrasts it to the country's sunny years under Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. Baker rose steadily, from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452264227
• ISBN13: 9780452264229
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great story showing the struggles of a young reporter

I was forced to read this book for one of my journalism classes and I had the 'typical' student attitude: 'I will skim through this book and guess my way through the paper'. I decided to read the first and last chapters of the book to get a basic understanding and then skim the rest. I started the book and realized that I could not put it down. This language in this book was very natural and the stories that were told were interesting. Being a journalism student, I was fasinated seeing all of the hardships that Baker went through to become the famed reporter that he is today. For once an assigned book that was actually interesting and worth reading.

The sequel to "Growing Up" doesn't disappoint

While I was "forced" to read "Growing Up"--part one of Russell Baker's autobiography--by my high school English teacher, I anxiously sought out this sequel. Baker's descriptions of the everyday life of a reporter makes for an intriguing book. While he has a tendency to romanticize situations, Baker provides enough details to give a clear picture of the type of challenges that reporters constantly face, especially early on in their careers. Baker's writing style is clean and straightforward without being simple. (I would zip through 20-30 pages at one sitting without even realizing it.) This is one of the few books I've read more than once and boy, do I wish he'd write another "chapter" of his autobiography. If you like the so called "adventures" of a reporter, an effortless history lesson, and lots of behind-the-scenes stuff, buy this book.

Delightful!

A gently but lively autobiographical memoire. For me, reading this book was a rare case of pure enjoyment, and one which I expect to repeat about once a year until ... .