Katy Tur

This updated edition features a new introduction by the author.Called "disgraceful," "third-rate," and "not nice" by Donald Trump, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur reported on—and took flak from—the most captivating and volatile presidential candidate in American history.Katy Tur lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, following Trump around the country, powered by packets of peanut butter and kept clean with dry shampoo. She visited forty states with the candidate, made more than 3,800 live television reports, and tried to endure a gazillion loops of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer"—a Trump rally playlist staple.From day 1 to day 500, Tur documented Trump’s inconsistencies, fact-checked his falsities, and called him out on his lies. In return, Trump repeatedly singled Tur out. He tried to charm her, intimidate her, and shame her. At one point, he got a crowd so riled up against Tur, Secret Service agents had to walk her to her car.None of it worked. Facts are stubborn. So was Tur. She was part of the first women-led politics team in the history of network news. The Boys on the Bus became the Girls on the Plane. But the circus remained. Through all the long nights, wild scoops, naked chauvinism, dodgy staffers, and fevered debates, no one had a better view than Tur.Unbelievable is her darkly comic, fascinatingly bizarre, and often scary story of how America sent a former reality show host to the White House. It’s also the story of what it was like for Tur to be there as it happened, inside a no-rules world where reporters were spat on, demeaned, and discredited. Tur was a foreign correspondent who came home to her most foreign story of all. Unbelievable is a must-read for anyone who still wakes up and wonders, Is this real life?Librarian note: A previously published edition for ISBN-10 0062684930 / ISBN-13 9780062684936 is here.

From MSNBC anchor and New York Times bestselling author Katy Tur, a sharp and candid memoir about a life spent chasing the news.“Television journalism is the worst job on the planet like motherhood is the worst job on the planet. It’s messy and often absurdly unpleasant and you’re constantly being judged by strangers and, yes, there are other wonderful ways to lead your life. But I can’t think of a richer way to spend mine.”Before Katy Tur was an anchor on MSNBC, a bestselling author, and the wife of CBS This Morning’s Tony Dokoupil (a.k.a. “the guy with the good hair”), she was just another young journalist reporting on hurricanes and holdups. Katy’s passion for news began as a toddler when she would ride in her parents’ helicopter as they reported on forest fires, Madonna’s wedding, and, of course, O.J. Simpson.In Rough Draft, Tur reveals a life lived in TV news, from her beginnings as the daughter of groundbreaking helicopter journalists in Los Angeles, to being a storm chaser, to upstart Trump campaign reporter “Little Katy,” to national news anchor, and now, a mother of two. She opens up for the first time about her complicated relationship with her parents and she brings us behind the desk and behind the scenes to reveal what it was like to guide millions through the craziest era in news America has ever seen.Tur writes about unique and often funny milestones (the semi-glow of bestseller acclaim, the art of the teleprompter) and relatable rites of passage (impostor syndrome, a difficult maternity leave, a husband who insists on feeding the baby beans). She also reflects on the business of broadcast news, and her role in it during a time of massive chaos, disinformation, and extremism.More than a book about the news, Rough Draft is about rising to the moment, embracing the unexpected, and learning to write your own story.