After long career, Dan Rather tries 'Summing Up'

[November 17, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Dan Rather is in the mood for "Summing Up."

The former CBS anchor and reporter has a deal with Grand Central Publishing for a memoir tentatively scheduled to come out in 2012.

Grand Central announced Tuesday that "Summing Up" covers his long career in journalism, from the John F. Kennedy assassination and Watergate to the Iraq War and his final years at CBS, when a disputed story about President George W. Bush's military service led to Rather's departure in 2006.

"I just felt the time had come for me to sum up my career in a candid memoir, and now I feel the time is right," Rather said in a statement. "Plus, with the changing climate -- and attitude -- about news and journalists, I feel I can give readers an honest perspective on the present, and, more important, on the future of news."

The 79-year-old Rather, known for a confrontational style and for being the object of unending criticism by conservatives, has also written a memoir about his childhood. "I Remember: Growing Up in Texas" was published in 1991. He currently produces an hourlong news program, "Dan Rather Reports," for cable channel HDNet.

Grand Central is a division of the Hachette Book Group.

[Associated Press; By HILLEL ITALIE]

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