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alongapath 's review for:
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
by Maxwell King
2.5 stars
In this laboriously long-winded account, King lets the reader know that Fred Rogers' famous television show came from a deeply caring and conscientious man. Rogers was a true academic, in his pursuit of multiple degrees and in ever-refining his understanding the burgeoning study of early childhood development. It was fascinating to learn of his involvement in the early days of advertisement-free television and his part in the creation of public television, a precursor to PBS.
But, for all the good intentions of Rogers and his dreams for helping young children, he came from enormous wealth which made all his risky decisions possible. None of this would have come to pass if not for his silver spoon life. Born into a family who skimmed over the 1928 stock market crash and lived high through the depression, it seems that any whim could have been a success.
King writes as if he doesn't believe that anyone is paying attention. Repetition at every turn made this interesting biography into a slog. Each chapter began with a summary of what had just been said in the previous one. Sometimes even the words chosen were the same.
Another weak point is that much of the book goes off on tangents which have little or nothing to do with Rogers himself and the choices he made - the history of TV, the business pursuits of his father's friends, the details of the Presbyterian beliefs, etc. I believe some tight editing could have made this 200 pages fewer and more captivating.
An up-side was the audio narration by LaMar Burton (of Reading Rainbow fame) whose soothing timbre made the hours (14+ hours) flow.
In this laboriously long-winded account, King lets the reader know that Fred Rogers' famous television show came from a deeply caring and conscientious man. Rogers was a true academic, in his pursuit of multiple degrees and in ever-refining his understanding the burgeoning study of early childhood development. It was fascinating to learn of his involvement in the early days of advertisement-free television and his part in the creation of public television, a precursor to PBS.
But, for all the good intentions of Rogers and his dreams for helping young children, he came from enormous wealth which made all his risky decisions possible. None of this would have come to pass if not for his silver spoon life. Born into a family who skimmed over the 1928 stock market crash and lived high through the depression, it seems that any whim could have been a success.
King writes as if he doesn't believe that anyone is paying attention. Repetition at every turn made this interesting biography into a slog. Each chapter began with a summary of what had just been said in the previous one. Sometimes even the words chosen were the same.
Another weak point is that much of the book goes off on tangents which have little or nothing to do with Rogers himself and the choices he made - the history of TV, the business pursuits of his father's friends, the details of the Presbyterian beliefs, etc. I believe some tight editing could have made this 200 pages fewer and more captivating.
An up-side was the audio narration by LaMar Burton (of Reading Rainbow fame) whose soothing timbre made the hours (14+ hours) flow.