The Brinkley-Cronkite Report

Oh, come on, the minute you saw the notice in Publishers Marketplace about Douglas Brinkley‘s “major” (i.e., at least $500K) deal for a Walter Cronkite biography to be published by William Morrow, you knew somebody was going to come around with that headline. But I thought I’d take the opportunity to clear up a question that periodically comes my way: Douglas (left) is not the son of legendary news anchorman David Brinkley (center). That would be Alan Brinkley (right), who like Douglas is a professor of American history, which is probably part of the source of the confusion. Alan won the National Book Award in 1983 for his Depression-era study Voices of Protest, and if he hasn’t been as prolific as Douglas in recent years, he’s got good cause: He’s been the Columbia provost since 2003.

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