PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewPithy, anecdote-rich ... The book has its longueurs but picks up narrative steam when Elwood describes how the grind of providing cover for bad actors takes its toll.
Ira Rosen
MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewRosen offers a mostly affectionate portrayal of Hewitt and does not mention the settlement. At the same time he questions his own reaction to the firing of Rosen ... Rosen’s backstage descriptions of the show are livelier than his sometimes plodding accounts of how he nailed stories of corrupt politicians and amoral executives. But how reliable a guide is he to 60 Minutes? Although he acknowledges the toxicity of its workplace, he devotes space late in the book to castigating journalists at The Washington Post who were reporting on sexual harassment at the show. And a reader may wonder what lessons he drew from his years in such an environment when he writes of the correspondent Ed Bradley that he \'liked his women and was a chick magnet\' and says that Rose \'had always been a ladies’ man.\' Those lines are among the book’s many groaners.
David Hajdu
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewDavid Hajdu is a considerate writer more interested in taking care of his readers than in baiting them ... traces the history of pop from the sheet-music past to the streaming present with the friendly authority of a favorite teacher ... If it were an album, it would be a collection of singles and B-sides meant to hold the fans at bay until the next major release ... his critical observations are measured and nuanced, if not correct.
