One Man's America
A Journalist's Search for the Heart of His Country
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- £9.49
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- £9.49
Publisher Description
A wise, witty, and humane autobiography filled with a passionate curiosity about the people--and meaning--of America. One Man's America is at once a stirring account of a young immigrant becoming an American, a personal history of the major milestones of the late twentieth century, a fascinating insider's view of the most widely read news magazine in the world, and a warm and loving family saga. Here also is the remarkable success story of a boy driven from his native Vienna by the Nazis and returning years later as an ambassador; of a copy boy who rose to become editor of Time magazine.
During his long and distinguished career in journalism, Grunwald knew, befriended, and feuded with some of the greatest figures on the world stage, from Whitaker Chambers and Marilyn Monroe to John F. Kennedy and Henry Kissinger to Ronald Reagan and Fidel Castro. But the immense power his position allowed him was tempered by a fierce desire to know everything he could about the mores and folkways of the whole United States, Main Street bankers and student radicals alike, through whom he sought to understand the heart of his adopted country.
One Man's America is, above all, a hymn to the ever-turbulent, ever-changing land of America.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grunwald's life story is the stuff American dreams are made of. Forced to flee his native Vienna as the Nazis stepped up their persecution of the Jews, Grunwald, aged 15, and his family landed in New York in 1940. Although not penniless refugees, they had to scramble to make ends meet. After high school, Grunwald attended New York University, changed his major from journalism to philosophy, was declared 4F by the army and graduated in June 1944. He joined Time magazine as a copy boy and began a ride up the ranks that would land him the top spot not only at Time as managing editor, but also as editor in chief of all of Time Inc. publications. As his career progressed, he came in contact with, and befriended, many of the world's most powerful men and women. His autobiography is filled with his impressions of such people as Fidel Castro, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Grunwald's friendship with Nancy Reagan helped him cap his career with his appointment as ambassador to Austria in 1988, a position he served in for two years. Although his story is dominated by his career (he acknowledges that his job came first and family second), Grunwald discusses the major events in his personal life, including the death of his first wife from cancer and his remarriage to a woman several years his junior. Written in a crisp style that moves seamlessly from event to event, this is an absorbing account of a fascinating life. FYI: New Year's Eve, the most recent novel by Lisa Grunwald, the author's daughter, was reviewed in Forecasts on Oct. l4.
