HOW'S YOUR FAITH?

Finding faith in the media fast lane.

Former Meet the Press moderator Gregory provides his life’s story, with an emphasis on his search for faith. Born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, the author’s youth was marked by his parents’ divorce and his mother’s alcoholism. He describes these years in depth before moving on to his early career in journalism, during which he met his future wife, Beth. After this introduction, Gregory moves on to the topic of his faith life, something he had thought little about until his marriage to a Christian. When the couple discussed how to raise their children, they decided to raise them as Jews, as this was culturally important to the author. His wife, however, had no plans to convert to Judaism. This interfaith parenting decision serves as a source of tension throughout the remainder of the book. Gregory moves on to detail his complex relationship with President George W. Bush. While he normally faced Bush in the role of journalist, the president was also prone to interact with the author in very personal ways, asking him on occasion, “How is your faith?” and discussing questions of religious belief. Gregory recounts his eventual departure from NBC: “My faith had strengthened me so that I knew I could take the hit, and thrive, even if I was not on television.” The author discusses interfaith marriage in America, including the view from an Islamic friend. Though Gregory has an interesting life story, and the book will appeal to TV news junkies, it is not without its flaws. The author distracts from his core message with excessive analysis and loose storytelling, and the writing is less than polished, more suitable to a magazine article or news copy than a full book.

Intermittently enjoyable but a lightweight, unfocused case study of an interfaith family.