We Interrupt This Broadcast


We Interrupt This Broadcast is the title of a non-fiction book from 1998. It was written by Joe Garner; the foreword was written by the veteran American newscaster Walter Cronkite. In addition to many descriptions and pictures of notable news events from the 20th century, compact discs containing audio news clips from the events described in the book are also included. The audio portions are narrated by Bill Kurtis.
The phrase "we interrupt this broadcast" has been used frequently by radio and television networks when breaking into a program in progress to deliver important news or information. The description on the book jacket states: "Wherever we may happen to be, our lives stop for a moment, and we experience those few seconds of anxiety between the interruption and the actual announcement of what has happened."

Editions

The first edition of We Interrupt This Broadcast was published in October 1998. A second edition was published in May 2000, and a third edition came out in May 2002. Both of these editions were revised to include more recent events, and both included two CDs. A fourth "10th Anniversary Edition" was published in October 2008, and in addition to summarizing more recent events, this edition contains three CDs instead of two.
The book has been ranked on The New York Times list of best-selling multimedia books.

Events

The first edition of We Interrupt This Broadcast details, in chronological order, 38 notable events from the 20th century. Each event is chronicled in the book in words and pictures, and each has a corresponding audio track on one of the CDs containing narration by Bill Kurtis and snippets from network radio and television newscasts. The events described in the first edition are:
  1. "The Hindenburg Explodes"
  2. "Pearl Harbor Under Attack"
  3. "D-Day: The Normandy Invasion"
  4. "President Roosevelt Dies"
  5. "V-E Day: War in Europe Ends"
  6. "Atomic Bomb Destroys Hiroshima"
  7. "Japan Surrenders: WWII Ends"
  8. "Truman Defeats Dewey"
  9. "General MacArthur Fired"
  10. "Sputnik Launched by Soviets"
  11. "John Glenn Orbits Earth"
  12. "Marilyn Monroe Dies"
  13. "Cuban Missile Crisis: Nuclear War Threatened"
  14. "President Kennedy Assassinated"
  15. "Lee Harvey Oswald Assassinated"
  16. "President Johnson Declines Re-election Bid"
  17. "Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated"
  18. "Robert Kennedy Assassinated"
  19. "Apollo 11: Man Walks on Moon"
  20. "Apollo 13: Astronauts Escape Disaster"
  21. "Kent State Massacre"
  22. "Munich Olympics Tragedy"
  23. "Nixon Resigns"
  24. "Saigon Falls"
  25. "Elvis Dies"
  26. "Iran Hostage Crisis"
  27. "John Lennon Murdered"
  28. "President Reagan Shot"
  29. "The Challenger Explodes"
  30. "Berlin Wall Crumbles"
  31. "Operation Desert Storm Begins"
  32. "Rodney King Verdict Incites Riots"
  33. "Waco Standoff Ends in Disaster"
  34. "O.J. Simpson Saga"
  35. "Oklahoma City Bombing"
  36. "Flight 800 Explodes Over Atlantic"
  37. "Atlanta Olympics Bombing"
  38. "Princess Diana Dies"
The second edition, released in 2000, features the above events, plus...
  1. "The Impeachment of President Clinton"
  2. "Tragedy at Columbine High School"
  3. "John F. Kennedy Jr. Dies"
The third edition, released in 2002, features the above events, plus...
  1. "The 2000 Election"
  2. "America Under Attack"
In 2008, a fourth edition was released. This most recent version was released with 3 CD's, featuring the above events, plus...
  1. "Operation Iraqi Freedom Begins"
  2. "Hurricane Katrina Floods New Orleans"
  3. "The Virginia Tech Massacre"