As the U.S. now faces existential challenges to its national character, Brokaw’s candid and heartfelt memoir offers a timely reflection infused with his trademark sincerity and unabashed appreciation for the bedrock inspirational values that always deserve attention.
Is his new memoir Never Give Up: A Prairie Family’s Story a must-read tome? Probably not ... Never Give Up is a short and easily digestible book, and what comes through most from it is this man’s deep appreciation for family ... Sure, sometimes it’s a sappy tale, but it’s well deserved in what is likely the author’s last act ... The writing is deeply felt, and others will likely relate to the spirit of those who "met the challenge without whining or whimpering" and "gave us, their successors, the will to go on.
In this affable memoir, former NBC Nightly News anchor Brokaw draws a line from his parents’ perseverance through world wars and the Great Depression through to his own values ... Brokaw recounts Red and Jean’s courtship and reflects on the work ethic he gleaned from them, masterfully bringing them to life through fond recollections ... Brokaw constructs this memorable family history with all the concision and color of a good journalistic profile. It’s hard not to be moved.
With his customary evenhanded tone, Brokaw voices a few regrets, including not quite understanding at the time how the anti–Vietnam War movement, mostly populated by people who had deferments and weren’t going to fight anyway, alienated old-school liberals such as Brokaw’s dad and 'played right into the fury of working-class Americans.' Brokaw pays homage to the sacrifices of his parents’ generation—and finds their successors wanting by comparison.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
