Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR

I loved this book! I had enjoyed Ms. Napoli’s earlier books, especially her book about the early years of CNN, so I looked forward to her take on a early days of NPR. I was not disappointed. This is a deeply reported story of how these four distinct and familiar voices came into our lives, as well as the many twists and turns as NPR survived its tenuous early years. For many of us, NPR has become our main source of daily news about politics, international affairs and culture, and the story of how it evolved is not just important, but also fascinating. As someone who began listening to All Things Considered almost from the beginning, this story had particular resonance with me, but it should also be an interesting and fulfilling experience for anyone who listens to NPR,

* "Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie" opens dramatically - re-visiting that shocking Sunday in August 2019 - when TV journalist Cokie Roberts appeared gravely ill during an interview on ABC's "This Week." She later tells fans that her cancer had returned and not to worry. But in a few weeks - the most "famous" - (although not the first) - of the "Founding Mothers" of National Public Radio (NPR) - would be gone at age 75.* Author Lisa Napoli has mastered the art of "grabbing you by the lapels" - with her defining prologues and riveting re-enactments - which have a cinematic way of pushing things in your face - before backing into a long-form history of what's ahead. More than ten years ago - she wrote a memoir about starting a radio station in remote Bhutan. I took notes and forgot about 'em later. But in 2016 and 2020, Napoli re-emerged with two history books bursting with reverence and humor, i.e., "Ray & Joan" - (about Ray and Joan Kroc and the birth of McDonald's) - and - "Up All Night" - (about Ted Turner and the birth of CNN) - written in a breezy style that melts clocks. (Think Bill Bryson and Mary Roach, authors who make history fun to read.)* With her latest, Napoli spotlights NPR's Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts. If you're not an NPR "regular" - the only name that "might" jump out at you is Cokie Roberts. Napoli acknowledges this, e.g., she expertly describes a scene from March 2020 - when a mob of rubber-neckers - strain for a glimpse of the latest celebrity to be permanently enshrined with a "star" on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. It was Susan Stamberg. Who? Napoli reckons there were murmurs of disappointment among those expecting a Kardashian-type in their midst.* "Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie" has three objectives. 1) To present mini-bios of four exceptional women; 2) to summarize how NPR began and its relationship to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, e.g., how adding the phrase, "...and sex" - joined race and religion as being protected by federal law, and, 3) to give credit to all women - before and after NPR - who struggled in workplaces fraught with misogyny and mischief.* She describes NPR's "Fallopian Jungle" in elaborate detail - a national news platform where women were hired because they were cheaper than men. She notes how and why rampant pay inequities - and gross sexism - would continue for decades - issues which still ring familiar - but were many times worse for journalism's female pioneers. Ironically, it was a man - Bill Siemering - who built NPR's "deep-dive" news format - banishing fast-tempo deliveries common in an industry dominated by commercial newsrooms flush with cash.* The book also opens a dark window on how close NPR came to being wiped out by financial negligence during the 1980s - and chronicles how it recovered. Props to Napoli for not shying away from NPR's relationship with its audience of "educated and well-to-do listeners" - which would feed perceptions of liberal bias - but would also prove critical in ensuring its long-term survival.* By unreservedly casting her leads as heroines - Napoli's book has a different "feel" than her raucous histories of Ted Turner at CNN and Ray Kroc at McDonald's. (Not as R-rated hence a tad less engaging for me personally.)* But history well told is still good history. Even though NPR's "Founding Mothers" aren't household names - America's most famous and influential figures were acutely aware of their power, deferring, patronizing or sucking up to them. Even activist Stokely Carmichael got into it (pg. 126) - describing Cokie Roberts as a "white, racist, imperialist, stuck-up b---." They broke ground and stories their way - which could explain why until now - they've been overlooked in journalism schools. (BTW, women still make up nearly sixty percent of NPR's staff today.)* The book feels short despite its nearly 300 pages - but all Lisa Napoli books seem that way to me because of how they're written. "Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie" is another fine work from the Napoli canon - and based on articles I've read elsewhere - it seems to be her biggest critical and commercial success thus far. Grade: A-.

I heard about this book on our local NPR station, WHYY in Philadelphia with host Marty Moss Coane who interviewed the author. I have been a big fan of NPR for decades and most especially of many of the women who contribute. It's almost as if I know them except, of course, I knew almost nothing about them other than their distinctive voices. (Oh, how I miss hearing Cokie Roberts!) So this grand book has been a wonderful experience. It is set up so that each of the four women are introduced, starting with their respective childhoods and working toward when they first became NPR contributors. But along with the biographies, the reader is given almost a history of the rise of women in the field of broadcast journalism. This has made the reading all the more interesting. If I could add a couple more stars, I would. It's just that good.

Listening @ WPSU in my 20’s in 1975 & elsewhere in the United States. Their were also weblinks to listen to these four familiar voices missing from our daily listening. Occasionally Susan Stamberg’s voice can be heard in a special report. God Bless Cokie Roberts, with distinctive insights of DC political scenes. Each of their biographies ensures the hard work of each & the bonds of each other. Big Thumbs Up in my book. Cheers

The book inside is not reflected accurately in the title. There are brief monographs of the four titular ladies and an almost non-helpful history of the beginning of NPR in the book, but most of the meat is about Frank Mankiewicz and how he shaped NPR. I wanted more anecdotes about the early days of NPR, the struggles and the triumphs, and more of a deep dive into how these women shaped the programming and reporting. I was most profoundly disappointed that the absolute triumph of Nina Totenburg's career in finding Anita Hill and her allegations against Clarence Thomas, are relegated to a few pages in the epilogue! This book reads very much like the thesis this book was originally conceived as. Parts of it are really interesting, and if you are curious about the history of the institution of NPR it's good but I don't feel like I learned more about these women than I knew from a lifetime of listening to All Things Considered.

Gift

I loved learning about the women. It was hard for me to follow. Maybe because of my age, not having lived through those times. A timeline or photos would have gone a long way.

I have read one of Lisa's earlier books -- the one on CNN & Ted Turner -- so naturally thought I'd follow up with this one. She is a very good storyteller, and weaves that well with meticulous research. So much about NPR I didn't know, and I learned a lot about women in journalism 40-50 years ago. We take NPR for granted. I didn't realize how precarious it was in the early years. I could hear the voices of Nina, Susan, Linda and especially Cokie as I was reading this book.