SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Fans of MSNBC anchor Katy Tur will be familiar with her skills and confidence in front of the camera. Here she narrates her memoir of her unconventional life. Her story will appeal not only to listeners interested in journalism, but also to anyone who enjoys a forthright or thoughtful narrative about an unusual life, along with personal takes on current events. Tur gives accounts of growing up, starting with her journalist parents—who, among other highlights, shot the O.J. chase—and her father’s transition to the female gender. She also shares aspects of her life with her husband, a coanchor on CBS. Listeners will hear some fascinating stories and gain an understanding of the difficulties reporters face. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 04/18/2022
MSNBC journalist Tur (Unbelievable) returns with a high-flying account of her unconventional, globe-trotting life in journalism. As the daughter of helicopter journalists Bob and Marika Tur, who famously captured both the O.J. chase and the Reginald Denny beating, Tur lived an extravagant youth in the 1990s. But it was far from stable; while her dashing dad was “always the hero,” she writes, he was also a threatening man known for his violent fits of rage and abuse—“It’s a miracle you can walk straight,” a news director later told Tur after realizing who she was. As her parents’ star fell in the aughts, Tur eclipsed them, rising from the Weather Channel in 2009 (“My prep work involved... watching the movie Twister”) to working as a foreign correspondent and eventually landing her own show on MSNBC. In writing that’s by turns introspective and bitingly funny (“Journalism is the world’s best career for avoiding your own problems”), she offers readers a candid look at her growth as both an anchor, learning to hold “power to account,” and as an individual finding her way through life’s vicissitudes—from supporting her father through their gender transition to parenting her own children with CBS Mornings coanchor Tony Dokoupil. Fans will find it a thrilling ride. (June)
From the Publisher
"If journalism is the 'first rough draft of history' then Tur's memoir is a stunning reminder that journalists are not only providing us with the draft, they are living its revision alongside us."
—Brooklyn Daily Eagle
“It's a hell of a story.”
— New York Times Book Review
“A stunning and revelatory memoir.”
—Oprah Daily
“If you love the kind of true stories that make you say ‘omg, how is this real,’ look no further.”
—The Skimm
"More provocative than Tur's first book... a vivid account of how one woman’s inheritance propelled her from a tumultuous childhood to a high-profile perch in television journalism."
—The Washington Post
“I don’t think I’ve ever read an account as personal... I really think people are going to love reading this book: for journalism, for life, for families.”
—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show
"Super raw and fascinating. The story Katy Tur tells in Rough Draft is so unusual but also resonant to anyone with a family."
—Kara Swisher
“She goes all the way there... I see a movie here.”
– Gayle King, host of CBS Mornings
“[Rough Draft] is so good... so heroic.”
– Nicole Wallace, MSNBC host of Deadline: White House
“Heart-wrenching...Deeply layered.”
– Daily Mail
Library Journal
05/06/2022
MSNBC anchor Tur (Unbelievable) delivers a raw look inside her childhood and career in this deeply personal memoir. Raised by the creators of Los Angeles News Network, Tur's earliest memories are following her parents to cover breaking news in their helicopter. Despite the early success of the Turs, who pioneered capturing news from the air, including filming O.J. Simpson's car chase and Los Angeles riots, her childhood is filled with fits of domestic violence and the unpredictability of a life lived following the 24/7 news cycle. As an adult, Tur follows in her parents' footsteps, becoming a foreign correspondent and news anchor. Despite her professional success, Tur battles impostor syndrome and discusses her struggles with mental health and motherhood with candor. In addition, Tur provides her perspective on the fraught relationship she shares with her father. Readers will be drawn in by the exciting adventures of the Turs and will keep reading to cheer Tur on in her personal and professional journeys. VERDICT Memoir readers will be captivated by Tur's story.—Mattie Cook
SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Fans of MSNBC anchor Katy Tur will be familiar with her skills and confidence in front of the camera. Here she narrates her memoir of her unconventional life. Her story will appeal not only to listeners interested in journalism, but also to anyone who enjoys a forthright or thoughtful narrative about an unusual life, along with personal takes on current events. Tur gives accounts of growing up, starting with her journalist parents—who, among other highlights, shot the O.J. chase—and her father’s transition to the female gender. She also shares aspects of her life with her husband, a coanchor on CBS. Listeners will hear some fascinating stories and gain an understanding of the difficulties reporters face. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-04-06
The award-winning MSNBC anchor reflects on her career and on the journalist parents who inspired her.
Tur spent her childhood watching her parents build the Los Angeles News Service, a “scrappy little company that covered big, breaking news stories.” While her mother, Marika, shot all the footage, her father, Bob, was “the brand.” A charismatic thrill-seeker, Bob piloted the LANS news helicopter to “scoop the competition” on news events like the 1992 Reginald Denny beating and the 1994 O.J. Simpson car chase. But behind the scenes, Tur also witnessed Bob physically abuse Marika. The adrenaline-fueled aggression her father used to build LANS led to its downfall and to a period of drug abuse, erratic behavior, divorce, and his eventual declaration that he was trans. Seeking to distance herself from the family business, Tur dismissed all thoughts of becoming a journalist until the events of 9/11 inspired her to be a witness to events unfolding in New York. After college, a temporary newsroom job led to a meeting with MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann and a move to New York, where their relationship became tabloid fodder. “I paid a price for that relationship,” she writes in her characteristically honest way. “When media reporters found out that Keith was living with a twenty-three-year-old, I became, in tabloid-speak, the bimbo.” A job at the Weather Channel brought her into unexpected contact with Brian Williams and marked the start of her own professional ascent. As her star rose, the problems with her father—now called Zoey—exploded. Unwilling to acknowledge the hurt she caused her family, Zoey instead made their relationship troubles public to extract “a public declaration of love and forgiveness” in the press and live once again in the public eye. As the author probes the pain behind a storied career, she offers unvarnished insights into the fast-moving, often unforgiving world of high-powered journalism.
A colorfully candid memoir from a dedicated journalist.
