The Place to Be

Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News

By: Roger Mudd

Narrated by: Roger Mudd

Roger Mudd joined CBS in 1961 and rose to fame as the congressional correspondent, covering the historic Senate filibuster debate over the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Mudd was there to see Dan Rather going toe-to-toe with the Nixon White House, Marvin Kalb deciphering the State Department, Daniel Schorr bird-dogging Watergate, Lesley Stahl and Connie Chung staking out all the president's men, George Herman presiding over Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer covering the Pentagon like a police reporter, and Eric Sevareid making what he called "small sounds in the night."The Place to Be is the story of both a unique news bureau - instrumental at the time in setting the agenda at home and abroad on issues like Vietnam, civil rights, and Watergate - and of one reporter's passion and commitment to the pursuit of news.©2008 Roger Mudd (P)2008 Roger Mudd

Critic reviews

"A classic of Washington journalism, a wry and probing memoir of a career that mattered when the news mattered." (Washington Post Book World)
"Brisk, brusque and surprisingly witty - a must for students of the peculiar marriage of politics and entertainment." (Kirkus)
"[I]t's unlikely anyone will surpass Roger Mudd's insightful, engrossing and candid account of what it was like when CBS dominated television news in the late 20th century." (The Hill)

A great memoir of the glory days of CBS News

Roger Mudd was to have been Walter Cronkite's successor in the anchor chair at CBS. He was on the "front row" in the Washington bureau as big names grew and faded both at the network and in politics. His book is as he was on air - credible, honest and engaging. He's fair with his rivals, especially Dan Rather who got the CBS anchor chair. A great listen about when network TV news became king and his part in it.

Great Book if you followed CBS News

Roger reporting on the CBS Evening news is one of my earliest memories. Really liked this book from the standpoint of wrote it like he was reporting on it. Which is different than Rather's and Schieffer's books.

Well written and narrated by that familiar voice..

If you are a newshound like me, you will enjoy this book. It talks about how the news was back in the early days.. and how it has changed to become what it is today. Great read by the man himself, Mr. Mudd.

No Doubt About It

Roger Mudd's The Place to Be...is a rare treat and an important contribution to the history of television journalism. Funny, profound, insightful and spoken with great finesse, this is a captivating story of Mudd's journey as well as the building of a television news network. It's also important in capturing the transition between radio and television journalism. Mudd's vivid writing style is an unbelievable treat.

Names from my past

An interesting story of CBS News during the times when I was young and my family watched Walter Cronkite over or after dinner on a nightly basis. It brought back many memories of reporters and correspondents who I had forgotten.

Brilliantly Told Tale of the Glory Days of Network News

I was the anchor of a small market CBS affiliate in the 70’s and 80’s. I watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite or Roger Mudd every night from the control room of our station, for eleven years. They were both fantastic presenters who gave you the feeling they knew as much if not more about the stories being reported than the correspondents did...Mudd in my estimation was the perfect heir to the anchor chair when Cronkite decided to permanently go “On Assignment”. In hindsight I wonder how many CBS execs felt the same way.

Listening to Mudd’s delivery of “The Place To Be”, took me back to a fascinating period in American Broadcast journalism. There may be even more technological wizardry available now, but no one will ever be able to recreate the incredible assemblage of talent that was CBS News of that era.

A great listen.

Roger Mudd… THE most trusted man in America!

Entertaining, insightful and with integrity. It made me rethink who the most trusted man in America was without ever dishing out on Walter Cronkite.