The Next Big Story

November 29, 2010
Though a famous CNN anchor and special correspondent who has reported extensively on Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, and beyond, O'Brien ultimately found her true reporting passion in examining race in America. In chapters such as "Black in America," "Not Black Enough," and "Latino in America," O'Brien writes about growing up in a mixed race family, astutely discussing the complexities of racial identity in America. In telling her story, O'Brien reveals her ambition, dedication, and empathy, but her stubborn resolution to remain in the present tense, though it certainly keeps her "moving forward" (a recurring theme), is also awkward and often jarring. Moreover, O'Brien covers an amazing amount of ground but rarely stops to linger, particularly when skimming over her early career. When she reaches her experience covering the recent Haitian earthquake and her special reports on race in America, however, she hits her stride, in part because she takes the time to make readers understand and empathize. O'Brien has enough material for multiple volumes and indeed, some readers may wish she'd told her life story in more than one book.

October 1, 2010
OBrien is the child of a black Cuban mother and white Australian father, and her mixed-race heritage informed every step of her personal and professional voyage, one that took her from an isolated suburban Long Island childhood to the catbirds seat at CNNs anchor desk. Acknowledging the distinctive sensibility she brings to her coverage of the days most divisive and dramatic events, OBrien chronicles her early years in broadcast journalism as well as her present position as one of cable news most respected correspondents. To reveal how her story affects her approach to the people and subjects she covers, OBrien shares a worldview that is rooted in diversity and communicated with compassion. By breaking down cataclysmic events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes into individual episodes of suffering, strength, and survival, OBrien swiftly transforms the overwhelming into the understandable. Impassioned yet intimate, OBriens electrifying memoir demonstrates her instinctive responsibility to present each crisis as a sacred opportunity to illuminate and educate her viewers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)