Dan Rather Books in Order

Dan Rather was born in Wharton, Texas, on October 31, 1931, and grew up in Houston Heights, a working-class neighborhood in Houston. His father worked laying pipeline, and books were a regular part of life at home. During childhood bouts of rheumatic fever, Rather spent long stretches in bed listening to radio reports from faraway places.

That was where the pull of journalism started.

He attended Sam Houston State College, where he studied journalism, worked on the student newspaper, and became the first person in his family to go to college. A professor helped him get a job at a local radio station, and Rather learned by doing everything: writing copy, reading news, and calling local sports. It was practical training for a reporter who would later be known for working fast when a story broke.

Texas stayed central to his sense of himself. In I Remember, Rather looks back at family, neighbors, illness, school, and the modest but sturdy world that raised him. Readers who enjoy that book often come for the personal stories, but they also get a clear picture of the values he carried into the newsroom: curiosity, persistence, and a dislike of putting on airs.

His television career took off after he covered Hurricane Carla in 1961. He joined CBS News the next year and soon found himself reporting on some of the defining events of the era, including the civil rights movement, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and Watergate. From 1964 to 1975, he worked as a White House correspondent, covering the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

He was usually happiest chasing the story.

Rather became anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News in 1981, a position he held for twenty-four years. The job made him a familiar face in American homes, but the books show the working reporter behind the desk. The Camera Never Blinks and The Camera Never Blinks Twice follow assignments from Texas to Vietnam, Afghanistan, China, and the White House, with plenty of attention to the uncertainty and improvisation behind a broadcast report.

His later work has been just as interested in the pressures surrounding the news. In Rather Outspoken, he revisits his career, his departure from CBS, and his concerns about corporate power and political pressure in journalism. In What Unites Us, written with Elliot Kirschner, he turns outward, reflecting on citizenship, public institutions, freedom, empathy, and the work of holding a diverse country together.

Rather's books are nonfiction, but they are driven by people under pressure: reporters trying to get the facts, officials protecting power, soldiers and civilians caught in war, and ordinary Americans trying to build better lives. He has continued writing and speaking about journalism, public life, and the responsibilities of citizenship. The technology has changed a lot since his radio days. His interest in asking the next question has not.