Whirlwind
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Whirlwind
Whirlwind
My Life Reporting the News
by
Bill Kurtis
Imprint: Plainspoken Books
Sales Date: September 2025
312 Pages
6.00 × 9.00 in
Hardcover
9780700640041
Published: September 2025
$32.99
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eBook
9780700640058
Published: September 2025
Ebook delivery via
VitalSource
$14.99
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Description
Authors
Praise
Contents
Starting with his coverage of the largest tornado in Kansas history, legendary correspondent, anchorman, and producer Bill Kurtis details his whirlwind career reporting American history as it unfolded, from the Chicago Seven to Charles Manson to Agent Orange. A fast-paced, entertaining, and inspiring story about the potent combination of talent and luck in the network era of television.
From his beginnings as a kid from Kansas working at local radio and television stations to pay for college and law school, Bill Kurtis had a hunger for telling stories and finding the truth. With passion, skill, and just the right amount of luck, Kurtis's reporting of the infamous Topeka Tornado of 1966 launched him into a whirlwind career in broadcast journalism. Only four years later, after passing the Kansas bar exam, Kurtis had already reported four of the largest trials of the twentieth century: Richard Speck, the Chicago Seven, Charles Manson, and Angela Davis.
During his career as a West Coast correspondent for Cronkite's
CBS Evening News
, anchorman and foreign correspondent at the revolutionary local newsroom at WBBM-TV Chicago, co-anchor with Diane Sawyer at
CBS Morning News
, and beyond, Kurtis brought history to the American people in real time.
Recounting moments in his remarkable career as a television journalist, Kurtis brings us into some of the most iconic moments of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. He was in the streets during the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he uncovered the truth about the deadly effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War; he was the first US television journalist to return to Chernobyl after the infamous nuclear disaster; and much more. Kurtis also offers an insider look at how television evolved from an emerging news source to the dominating force in American media.
A natural storyteller, Kurtis remembers his career with honesty and insight and gives a rare picture of American history and broadcast journalism.
Bill Kurtis is currently the president of Kurtis Productions and the official judge and scorekeeper of NPR’s
Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!
He lives in Chicago with his wife, Donna.
Whirlwind
is Bill Kurtis’s story of his journey from the stormy skies of Kansas to the bright lights of Chicago and New York, from local reporter to big-time television news. Bill has a good story to tell and he tells it well.”—
Dan Rather
, journalist
Whirlwind
is the work of a master storyteller: fast-paced, enthralling, insightful, and full of the inside scoop on the big news of the last fifty years. Bill Kurtis, one of our premier broadcast journalists for decades, has had experiences almost daily that would be the highlight of a lifetime to anybody else—national news anchor, the voice of a box office smash movie, and these days the announcer on the highest-rated show on NPR, to name only a few examples. Anyone who gets out of bed in the morning will be fascinated by this book.”—
Scott Turow
, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Presumed Innocent
Whirlwind
offers a unique view of television journalism, told through the six-decade career of Bill Kurtis—anchorman, CBS News correspondent, master storyteller, and both the iconic voice and guiding force behind the Golden Age of cable documentaries, not to mention his unmistakable narration in the movie
Anchorman
. Bill brings us the story behind the stories, a vivid reminder that before they were history, they were news.”—
Joe Garner
, author of
We Interrupt This Broadcast: The Events That Stopped Our Lives . . . from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Death of John F. Kennedy Jr.
“If there was a major story of the late twentieth century and beyond that Bill Kurtis didn’t cover, it was only because he was off somewhere else covering something even more important: the Chicago Seven, the Manson Family, Agent Orange, Chernobyl, and more. Not just the iconic anchorman, Bill is the quintessential journalist: going everywhere, talking to everybody, and usually getting it all on film. It’s common to say one stands on the shoulders of giants—I get to stand next to one.”—
Peter Sagal
, host of National Public Radio’s game show
Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!
and author of
The Incomplete Book of Running
“Bill Kurtis found the perfect formula for his stellar career: strong skills, honed instincts, passion for his work, friends, and, yes, luck. Not to mention THAT voice! This book by a great storyteller should be a primer for aspiring journalists. Written with a journalist’s eye for details and Bill’s keen sense of humor, the book educates and entertains.”—
Ann M. Brill
, dean of the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Preface: The Whirlwind
1. The Topeka Tornado
2. Learning Lessons and Chasing Dreams
3. Finding My Way
4. Richard Speck
5. Chicago on Fire
6. Four Days in August
7. Tokyo Rose
8. The Trial of the Chicago Seven
9. Charles Manson
10. Earthquake
11. Angela Davis
12. Juan Corona
13. A New Kind of News
14. The Last Days of Vietnam
15. The Phone Call
16. The Massacre
17. Saving a Life
18. Agent Orange
19. American Faces
20.
CBS Morning News
21. The Golden Leaf
22. The Plane That Fell from the Sky
23. Muhammad Ali
24. Back to Chernobyl
25. The Anchorman
26.
Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!
27. The Journey Continues
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Forthcoming Events
Bill Kurtis presenting at the Women’s Athletic Club in Chicago
Wednesday. May 20, 2026 | 5:00 pm
626 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
Bill Kurtis at the 2026 American Writers Festival
Sunday. June 7, 2026 | 11:00 am
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street
Chicago, IL 60653
Bill Kurtis featured at the Kansas Book Festival Fundraiser
Monday. June 8, 2026 | 12:00 am
Washburn University
TBD
Bill Kurtis will speak at the William Allen White Red Rocks Historic Site
Sunday. September 13, 2026 | 2:00 pm
William Allen White House State Historic Site (Red Rocks)
Civic Auditorium
927 Exchange Street
Emporia, KS 66801
Kansas Book Festival 2026
Saturday. September 26, 2026 | 9:00 am
Washburn University Library
1731 Plass
Topeka, KS 66621
Bill Kurtis will be a guest speaker at the Annual Joan Golder Distinguished Senior Lecture
Wednesday. October 7, 2026 | 5:30 pm
North Shore Senior Center
161 Northfield Road
Northfield, IL 60093
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