What does Katy Tur of MSNBC have to do with Jack Kerouac?

I just finished Katy Tur's new book, Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History. It chronicles Tur's time assigned to the Trump Presidential campaign. It's insightful, engaging, and funny. I highly recommend it if you are into politics, or if you just want an inside look at how cable news coverage works.



But you are asking, "What does this have to do with Jack Kerouac?" (since that is the raison d'être of this blog). Well, Jack was a writer, and Tur has proven her chops in that regard with this book. I read Unbelievable in two sittings, literally not being able to put it down. She strikes me as sympatico with Kerouac in her fearless approach to writing, telling it like it is and letting the chips fall where they may. The chapter on her parents alone is worth the price of the book -- they were a fascinating news duo who started the Los Angeles News Service, paving the way for using helicopters in a major city to cover breaking news.

I guess I've now opened the door to being able to post on The Daily Beat about any books I read, and I guess that's true enough. All books have writers, and Jack was certainly that, so there's always that minimal connection. I've been doing a lot of reading in retirement, and that makes a lot of fodder for future posts.

Maybe I can contact Katy and get her to weigh in on her thoughts about Jack. I've seen her drop an impromptu obscure The Big Lebowski reference when anchoring a show, so who knows? The Dude was certainly a beat character (see video to the right of the Dude hawking The Beat Handbook), so she may be a Kerouac fan. I'll let you know....