Book Review: The Next Big Story: My Journey Through The Land Of Possibilities (Celebra Books)
by Soledad O’Brien
Publication Date: Nov 02, 2010
List Price: $24.95
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780451231376
Imprint: Celebra
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
Read a Description of The Next Big Story: My Journey Through The Land Of Possibilities (Celebra Books)
Book Reviewed by Kam Williams
"I began life as the child of a mixed-race marriage growing up in a white
suburb, treated sometimes as a creature of bad circumstance… Bad things happen
until good people get in the way.
I learned this life lesson growing up in Smithtown, Long Island, and I see it
almost everywhere I go in pursuit of the next big story… My immigrant parents
made sure I had the potential to capture my American dream anyway.
I was handed a life of possibilities. That experience left me with the urge to
chart how those around us get their chance at life and whether they go on to
share their good fortune with others when the time comes.""
— Excerpted from the Introduction (pg. 4)
Soledad O‘Brien is the daughter of immigrants, one from Australia, the other
from Cuba, who met in this country while pursuing the proverbial American Dream.
However because one was white, and the other was black, they had to flee the
South after falling in love, since interracial marriage was still against the
law down there.
So, the couple moved to New York where they integrated a lily-white community on
the North Shore of Long Island. There, they settled down to raise pigs, geese,
and a half-dozen kids in a town marked by bigotry and intolerance. Nonetheless,
the tight-knit O‘Brien siblings managed to flourish academically, and all
eventually attended Harvard University before going on to meet with phenomenal
success in each of their chosen professions.
In The Next Big Story, Soledad revisits her challenging formative years in order
to illustrate how overcoming childhood adversity perhaps served to shape not
only her personality but her compassionate approach to her career as a
television journalist at CNN. Whether it was being asked "Are you black?" by a
portrait photographer at the age of 11, being teased "If you’re a [N-word] why
don’t you have big lips?" by an 8th grader in the hallway at school, or having
to hear "Why do I have to sit next to the black girl?" coming from the sister of
a friend, Soledad suffered a host of indignities on the path to the peak of her
profession.
Fortunately, once in a position to make a difference covering disasters like the
Great Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina or the Haitian Earthquake, this intrepid
reporter has kept the pedal to the medal in an indefatigable quest to shed light
on the plight of the least of her brethren. As for her private life, we learn
that this freckle-faced, doting mother of four was an ugly duckling who never
dated in high school before blossoming in Boston where she met her husband,
Brad.
A moving memoir which does justice to the effervescent spirit and unbridled
intellectual curiosity of a truly empathetic soul my faithful readers already
know just might be the brightest person I’ve had the privilege of interviewing.
Related Links
Soledad O’Brien - Black in America 5 Interview
Russell Simmons Hosts Soiree for
Soledad O'Brien
http://aalbc.com/reviews/russell_simmons_hosts_soledad.html
Soledad’s Follow-Up Report about the Haitian
Relief Effort
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien_2010.html
Soledad’s Eyewitness Report on the Haitian Relief Effort
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien_haiti.html
Soledad O'Brien - The "CNN Presents: Black in America 2" Interview
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien.htm
Over-Hyped CNN Special Fails to Measure-Up to the Buzz
http://aalbc.com/reviews/black_in_america.htm