'Big Russ & Me'
By Tim Russert
Miramax, $22.95.
As moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," Tim Russert is one of TV's most respected interviewers. In this book, he ascribes a great deal of the credit for his success to his father, "Big Russ."
Russert's book is anecdotal, such as his description of his first appearance as a panelist on "Meet the Press" when he had no on-air experience. He called "Big Russ," a World War II vet, and asked for advice. His dad said: "Just be yourself. Pretend you're talking to me. Don't get too fancy. Don't talk that Washington talk. You've got to talk so people can understand you. Ask questions that my buddies at the post would want to know about."
Russert followed his dad's advice, and it led to his being offered the position of moderator of "Meet the Press." Among those he has interviewed is the president of the United States. When Russert asked "Big Russ" for advice on that one, he told his son to be "respectful" — because Russert might continue to be on television after the president finished his time in office — "But the oval office will still be there and someone else will fill it."
This book has a lot of sound advice, not only from Russert's father but from other colorful people in his life — and in the process the reader learns how Russert became a big name in TV news without ever planning on it. — Dennis Lythgoe
'Posterity'
By Dorie McCullough Lawson
Doubleday, $24.95.
Subtitled "Letters of Great Americans to Their Children," this book is a compilation of letters from such people as Thomas Jefferson, General Patton, W.E.B. Dubois, Oscar Hammerstein, Woody Guthrie, Eleanor Roosevelt and Groucho Marx.
Dorie McCullough Lawson originally tried to persuade her father, historian David McCullough, to write it. But he was working on a biography of John Adams at the time, so she decided to write it herself.
After losing two of her children, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," wrote a letter to her daughter, Georgiana. Stowe was 47 at the time, but she was still in grief. "I am blessed," she said. "Weak, weary as I am, I rest on Jesus in the innermost depth of my soul, and am quite sure that there is coming an inconceivable hour of beauty and glory when I shall regain Jesus, and He will give me back my beloved one, whom He is educating in a far higher sphere than I proposed. So do not mistake me — only know that mamma is sitting weary by the wayside, feeling weak and worn, but in no sense discouraged."
William James, the philosopher, wrote his 8-year-old daughter about a humming bird that was trapped in the library of his home. "You never saw such untiring strength. Filled with pity for his fatigue, I went into the garden and culled a beautiful rose. The moment I held it up in my hand under the skylight, the angelic bird flew down into it and rested there as in a nest — the beautifullest sight you ever saw." — Dennis Lythgoe
'Elephas Maximus'
By Stephen Alter
Harcourt, $25.
Stephen Alter lived in India and Egypt, where he became fascinated with the Indian elephant, which he portrays beautifully in this book.
Alter finds the elephant a "majestic" creature, one that has been "revered in Indian religion as the source of life" and "coveted by poachers for its ivory tusks."
Besides a number of personal experiences with elephants, Alter writes about the elephant-human relationship and how difficult the struggle has been for the elephant to survive in the modern world. He uses history, art, religion and folklore to draw a lively portrait of the beast.
Describing elephant behavior, Alter recounts finding a herd of 12 elephants while taking a jeep ride. "Shuffling their front feet back and forth, they uprooted the grass with their toes, then used their trunks to gather it into a tidy mouthful. The elephants seemed to be moving in unison, and we felt as if we were watching a carefully choreographed dance, their rhythmic steps accompanied by the swinging of pendulous trunks."
In spite of this description, the author believes the idea of dancing elephants is a myth, perpetrated by Rudyard Kipling. Alter believes that as they shuffle and sway, they are "following their own subtle tempo rather than the drumbeats of human rhythms." — Dennis Lythgoe