Jennings’ globe-spanning life explored in biography

For many Americans, Peter Jennings was the voice and face that gave shape to the news.

Born in Canada, Jennings hosted a radio broadcast when he was 9. And although he was a high-school dropout, he was determined to pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. In 1965, he was hired to anchor ABC’s 15-minute evening news digest. He was 26 years old, making him the youngest anchor in the history of American journalism.

And that was the problem. His inexperience created a disaster on the air, and he was quickly replaced and eventually sent to the Middle East as a correspondent. Jennings returned to ABC’s World News Tonight as one of three hosts. He became sole anchor in 1983, a post he handled with intellect and grace until his death in 2005 from complications of lung cancer.

“Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life” is a very intimate book that is full of surprises. For example, he was an autodidact — a self-taught person — who traveled the world in search of stories. He keep a notebook perpetually tucked into his back pocket and was never without a copy of the U.S. Constitution. He loved the United States and acquired citizenship shortly before his death.

The book is edited by an almost perfect literary trifecta: Kate Darnton is a contributing editor to PublicAffairs; Kayce Freed Jennings was married to Peter Jennings from 1997 until his death; and Lynn Sherr is an award-winning correspondent with ABC News and often worked with him.

Throughout his life, Jennings was driven by a passion to seek the truth and convey the truth accurately, simply, cleanly and, yes, elegantly to his American audience. He was also a decent human being, both on camera and off, and that is why his death was so profoundly felt.