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The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly | 
 enlarge | Author: Marvin Kitman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.62
You Save: $6.33 (40%)
New (26) Used (4) from $7.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 16374
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0312385862
Dewey Decimal Number: 320
EAN: 9780312385866
ASIN: 0312385862
Publication Date: October 28, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
Fair? Balanced?
To some, Bill O’Reilly is a semi-demented cable TV talk show host who can be an obnoxious, insufferable, opinionated, rude loudmouth whose views, the kinder ones say, are typical right-wing drivel. But there is much more to O’Reilly than what meets eye. O’Reilly is the paradigm of idiosyncrasy in television journalism.
On the rough road to the top, O’Reilly learned how to give the public what it wants and thinks it needs. From his early education at the hands of nuns to an advanced degree in public policy from Harvard, from working at local television stations and rising through the ranks to network news, O’Reilly spent nearly twenty-five years learning his craft before he became an overnight star at Fox News.
In this very intimate look at the man and what matters to him, veteran media critic Marvin Kitman explores all the experiences that led to the making of Bill O’Reilly—a nonconformist in a business that demands conformity as the price of success, and a man who has risen to the top by not playing by the rules of broadcast news. Kitman shows that O'Reilly is not a knee-jerk conservative, but an “independent” freethinker with a mind of his own, and he believes what journalism needs is more Bill O’Reillys. Not screamers, the blowhards like the current O’Reilly clones rushed on the air since his success, but trained journalists, reporting the news and telling us why, in their opinion, the world is a crazy place.
Supported by twenty-nine interviews with O’Reilly, Marvin Kitman chronicles a descent from reporter of news to spewer of views.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Just a little fact that I would like to put out there.... September 13, 2007
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have not read this book, but in the excerpt I read it stated that Bill's father bought a house on Page Lane and "Billy and his friends were, as O'Reilly calls them, fiends. That was considered the normal childhood state growing up on the streets of Levittown. There were fifteen to twenty kids on the block, recalled his sister Jan, younger by two years. They ran around doing things, creating havoc, from the adults' viewpoint. Billy was the fiend-in-chief, being the tallest and most outspoken." We both grew up in a great neighborhood and there were certainly many kids on the block, but it wasn't Levittown. Page Lane is in Westbury. Our property on Pilgrim Lane backed up to the O'Reilly's yard. We used to cut through the side of their yard to get to Page Lane from our house. Those were the days!
 HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT! June 5, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Author Kitman has written an indepth behind the scenes perspective on Bill O'Reilly. This book reveals a bristling, tough, knowledgeable, person,shaped by some not so nice events in his own life. We learn about some of the cruel and unfair treatment he received as a young man coming of age --- and while attempting to climb the television journalism ladder of success. In some instances, Marvin Kitman shows readers that Bill was a major contributor to his own difficulties. At other times his out-spoken candor, individuality, intelligence, talent, high-energy level, true grit, and intense work ethic served as the catalyst.
The book is well written. It overflows with past and current O'Reilly capers. Just to mention a few; with Joey Bishop, Keith Hernandez, Mike Wallace, Mike Kinsley, Sen. John McCain, Roger Ailes, Monica Collins, Madeleine Albright, Geraldo Rivera, Levittown, the Marx brothers old house, Al Franken, Keith Olbermann, David Letterman, Peter Jennings.
Thank you Marvin Kitman for an informative book, but you could have included at least one interview with Ms Arthelle Neville, who used to critique Bill O'Reilly on his own "No-spin zone" show. I enjoyed watching that portion of the show. He accepted her criticisms with good humor. Her commentary in this book might have been very interesting.
 Nice try! June 1, 2007
0 out of 21 found this review helpful
Nice try, Mr. Kitman! How can anyone call this book "fair and balanced" when it was endorsed by Keith Olbermann both on the back of the book and on Olbermann's own TV show which nobody watches? Olbermann hates O'Reilly, and names him the "worst person in the world" on an almost daily basis, along with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter. Don't make stuff up. Somehow, I doubt that you've ever met Mr. O'Reilly or let alone even talked to him. It seems to me that Mr. Kitman got all the "information" for this book from interviews with O'Reilly on other TV talk shows as well as from O'Reilly's own books.
Hardly "Fair and Balanced". March 18, 2007
11 out of 44 found this review helpful
The title of this post does not refer to Bill O'Reilly--it refers to Marvin Kitman. I have just listened to Kitman's hour long C-SPAN "Book Notes" review of this book. It was in my view a total hatchet job of O'Reilly. Not once in his review did he mention O'Reilly's persistent efforts in getting the very worthwhile "Jessica's Law" (which pertains to mandatory sentencing of convicted child molesters) enacted in all fifty states. Kitman also characterizes O'Reilly as a "cheapskate" yet does not acknowledge that he donates to charity all of the money he personally receives from his website sales of Factor Gear. These are just two examples of why I am bewildered by the previous reviews at this site that thought Kitman's book dealt with its subject matter (i.e, O'Reilly) even handedly. Fortunately, Fox New's O'Reilly Factor is the number one show on cable news. So there are millions and millions of people that tune and judge for themselves if O'Reilly is the total hypocrite that Kitman claims. No doubt about it Bill O'Reilly has a polarizing personality, but the show is very well researched--it has to be. With its hard hitting news stories it has made too many enemies, many of whom are just itching to sue for any factual indiscretions.
This I do know: after listening to Marvin Kitman for an hour I would NOT waste my time reading any book he has written on any subject.
Well-worth reading March 18, 2007
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up by Marvin Kitman is a meticulously researched and well-written story of an unusual phenomenon. Kitman has a riveting section on O'Reilly's lawsuit and an historically interesting summation of O'Reilly in the world of TV news. Well worth reading whether one is a fan of O'Reilly or -- as in my case -- not.
Barbara Ferguson
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