Recently, I had to do a report for a high school course than I am taking called "Career Exploration." Since one of my favorite hobbies is writing, I chose to do my report on journalism. "Opportunities in Journalism Careers" is one of the books that I used to help me write my report. Overall, I found it to be a very helpful, fact-filled book. It starts off by telling you the some of the basics about journalism that often cannot be found in a general careers book: how to get hooked on journalism, what to expect in terms of compensation, what kind of people are right for the job, and what kind of work ethic you have to have to make it in the field. It then goes in to a brief history of journalism in the United States and covers topics such as freedom of the press, ethical standards, and the development of modern newspapers. Next, the topic of writing is explored in depth. The book explains that since writing is the key to all journalism careers, journalists must write accurately, clearly, and precisely. The nature of newspaper work is also explained in this book, as well as detailed descriptions of various journalistic duties at newspapers, magazines, television stations, and radio stations. Of course, the basics of any decent careers book are here as well: entry-level pay, range of pay, responsibilities, future trends of the industry, required training and education, where to obtain training and education, transferable skills, related jobs, how to obtain experience for the job, skills required, and opportunities for advancement. But the single thing I liked most about this book is that it goes above and beyond the basic information to provide a richer, deeper description of who a journalist really is and what he or she does. This book was invaluable to me when it came to writing my report and allowed me to give a lot of pertinent, interesting information that the teacher didn't require. I definitely recommend "Opportunities in Journalism Careers" to anyone researching this exciting field. It is certain to make this career even more exciting to aspiring journalists as they learn the "ins and outs" of a job for people who love to write.

Morley Safer traveled back to Vietnam in 1989 to see how that country has changed in the fourteen years since the end of America's involvement in the war. Did the Vietnamese people really win? Morley's goverment provided guide, Ms. Mai, is assigned to escort and provide him access to the sites he reported from during the war. Ms. Mai envies the freedom that women in America have. All throughout the country it is apparent that the Vietnamese people still live with the scars of the war. It is an inescapable reality of their existence. Now, under communism, the Vietnamese people are worse off ... and it is made very clear in this book. Morley writes that the one thing many Vietnamese citizens resent the most is that they do not have the ability to hop on a Freedom Bird to escape the harsh realities of their daily existence. This book provides a fair perspective on what the Vietnamese people think of their victory.

This is one of those books someone gives you for Christmas because you are a Vietnam veteran, and you digest it to see what it has in common with your experiences. While I was a helicopter pilot in the Delta, and nowhere near the places Morley visits in his periodic reporting forays, one gets the message of what anyone who frequented this tropical country eventually got. "The place sort of grows on you," one journalist comments to another. That's what happened to all of us; we experienced the other side of the world as young men. This was an out-of-the-culture experience that only we knew we were certainly having--despite the efforts of our media, politicians, and college protesters to define it. Another book the Vietnam vet needs on his bookshelf to help sort out the morass this bureacratic farce was paid for in our military blood.

This is a book which has affected me greatly both as a person who grew up in the Vietnam area and as a professional journalist. Safer succeeds in creating pictures of Vietnam which were never before filed. It is a crime that this book is not in print.