Word: sperber
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There is need for a thorough, dispassionate biography of Murrow, one that could assess his precise contributions to American journalism--and to modern relations between the news media and Government during his stint as director of the U.S. Information Agency in the Kennedy Administration. Ann M. Sperber, a former book editor and freelance writer, has doggedly undertaken the task in Murrow: His Life and Times. Her volume is nothing if not inclusive: it mentions head colds and household accidents, and is replete with sometimes pointless anecdotes in which Murrow is at most a peripheral figure--half a page, for example...
...matters of fact, Sperber seems considerably more sound. She secured cooperation from Murrow's widow Janet and son Casey, and reflects the family point of view. Yet she does note, albeit very briefly, Murrow's hard drinking, bursts of temper and infidelities, especially his open wartime love affair with Pamela Churchill, the British Prime Minister's daughter-in-law--matters the docudrama deliberately overlooked. Using declassified FBI files, Sperber demonstrates abuses by that agency, the State Department and its Passport Bureau to harass Murrow and suggests their files were leaked to Alcoa, which then withdrew sponsorship of Murrow's trademark...
...Sperber is neither a subtle reader of Murrow's prose nor, despite her Fulbright-scholar background in political science, a decisive analyst of his ideology. She does evoke the shy, moody, sometimes preening yet fiercely loyal man who inspired such admiration and affection. Still, this should not be the conclusive Murrow biography...
...coalition of opponents to Proposition 2 1/2 will not disband, but will continue to try to get the legislature to reform the measure, to avoid cuts in local services, and to increase other taxes, such as the sales tax, Robert Sperber, superintendent of schools in Brookline, said last night...
...topics are selected with a view to a sort of "critical mass" theory of knowledge: the notion that enough information on a particular subject has accumulated to explode into new experiments and discoveries. Says Drug Researcher Nathan Sperber, chairman of this year's meeting on medicinal chemistry: "We try to organize sessions in areas that are just about to break open. Ideally the person working on a particular project hasn't reported on his or her work elsewhere...