About this title: The most important woman in the history of television journalism offers this memoir that is heartbreaking and inspiring, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always riveting. Illustrated.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780307266460ISBN:030726646X
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780307266460ISBN:030726646X
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. Dust Cover Missing. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780739327302ISBN:0739327305
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners. Spine has wear at edges. Dust jacket included, and has light wear at edges. read more
"Barbara Walters' story of her climb to the top is fascinating. She endured a lot of flack for being a woman, with Harry Reasoner openly scorning her on network news. While seen by some as audacious and pushy, she presents herself as always insecure about losing her job, hence her perfectionism, persistence, and the title "Audition," because she continually felt she was auditioning anew. While enduring backlash for being the first woman network anchor person, she received a card that said, "Don't let the bastards get you down." It was from John Wayne.
Her insecurity stemmed from watching her father succeed and fail at several famous night clubs, and when he failed, the family was thrown into poverty and her mother's severe anxiety. Through his night clubs she became acquainted with famous people at an early age. She describes her tenacity at pursuing interviews, many of which would take her years to obtain. Her insights into Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Moshe Dayan, the Shah of Iran, Fidel Castro, and many other people are captivating.
I don't usually read the early childhood years of a biography, and intended to just skim the early years of this one. It was so interesting, however, that I kept reading. She was deeply affected by her developmentally disabled sister, and to this day feels guilty that she got more from life than her sister did. She also describes several love affairs and marriages, and writes in a tone as if she's talking to you over coffee.
What comes through in the book, as in her interviews, is her ability to respect those she disagrees with, with the exception of a few male co-workers, with which she openly discusses her problems."
"I am sure there are going to be people who think that Barbara Walters is nothing more than an arrogant uptight snob who only interviews the rich and famous, let me say that would be a wrong assumption to make.
For years, I like millions of others have found Ms. Walters to be one the best journalist on tv. In Audition, Walters, who has a made living from drilling down to the personal lives others, finally opens up about her own private life.
Family is the core of the book. Walters openly writes about her father who made and lost money in the entertainment business, her mother who seemed to be bitter about the life she lived, about her own sister who developmentally challenged and it seems is the central person who Ms. Walters has the most regrets about. Walters also writes candidly about her three failed marriages. She also very candid about the hard times she had with her adoptive daughter and how the worked out for the best for both of them.
Here are the two things I loved this most about this book. If there central theme in Walters book is family, the secondary theme is how one woman rose to the top of male dominated business. Walters is very frank about the sexism and the struggles she had to endure yet she is very modest about her role in women's movement as an example of someone who broke the glass ceiling.
Finally, this is one of the most enjoyable political books I have ever read. Starting with LBJ through the current President of the United States, Walters has interviewed every major world leader and player in modern history and tells some very enlightening stories about each of them.
I highly recommend this book and dare people not to think about Ms. Walters in a different light after reading it."
"Barbara Walters's Audition is a massive, entertaining memoir that chronicles her troubled family life as she became one of television's most respected journalists.
My draw to the book was its focus on television journalist who hob-knobs with celebrities, heads of state and American politicians while she juggles a career and a family life. Walters goes into great detail of growing up alongside her mentally disabled sister Jackie, her showman father Lou and later bringing up her adopted daughter Jackie (named after her sister).
Walters is candid in revealing her mistakes and especially her guilt. In no small measure she talks about how it's difficult - however otherwise it seems - for a woman to maintain a grasp on marriage (she's been married and divorced three times), to raise a well-adjusted daughter (who rebelled in her teen years) and to further her career (despite her huge success, she faced numerous challenges rising through the ranks of "Today" and later as co-anchor of the evening news with Harry Reasoner).
Walters talks about how she was ashamed of having a sister who was a drag on her social life. She talks about how it was hard to talk to her father late in his life, after his many successes and bitter failures. She talks about how she neglected her husbands and daughter. She not only expresses but is very aware of her guilt - but she hardly pities herself, is always grateful for her tremendous success and thankful to the many hands that helped her along the way.
Not surprising, Walters's book is at its best when she's being most honest: She never acts like she had it all, and she describes what she gave up to get where she is. Though at times she provides maybe too much detail about her own struggles, one can't help but sympathize with her as she describes her life being pulled in different directions. But eventually she decides she's talked enough about herself, and the book abruptly switches gears and she talks about the last 25 years of interviewing movie stars, presidents, first ladies, murderers, white-collar criminals, Monica Lewinsky and her tenure on 20/20 and The View.
The gossipy tidbits, while interesting, are also mildly empty after she stops intertwining her personal life with the struggles and triumphs of her career. While an alternate work that evenly mixed personal and professional may have been a staggering 900-page memoir, it would have been a complete work instead of one that feels like it may have become tiresome for its author as she neared completion (or maybe cut by a non-judicious editor).
But that's not to say the tidbits aren't anything but fascinating. Her chapter focusing on interviewing and getting to know presidents and first ladies is one of the best of the book. Most revealing is her story about interviewing Gerald and Betty Ford. Betty, who was apparently drunk and slurring words throughout the interview, was mercifully saved by Walters, who opted to narrate over parts featuring Betty instead of showing her in an inebriated state - a decision, she says, she would have never made today.
Sadly, no juicy tidbits for Walters's chapters on The View - which provide detail but no real insight on her very public spats with Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, Donald Trump, etc. (as my friend Debbie said, maybe she was afraid of lawsuit...). Nor does Walters get too descriptive of her highly-rated interview with Monica Lewinsky - which was seen by more than 50 million viewers less than a month after President Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate.
Despite its late-book shortcomings, it is an exceptional book - a genuine work full of insight on women's careers, journalism and the highly competitive world of broadcast news."
"Barbara Walters writes the way she talks and the informal style is conversational and pleasant. But something essential is missing in Barbara's recounting of her life. There is sadness and melodrama, affairs and broken marriages, professional triumphs and personal loss on every page in this lengthy book. Barbara is quite honest and critical in her self assessments and does not gloss over her personal mistakes. Nonetheless her life's meaning seems to be about "celebrity", not a surprise considering her reputation. I didn't get a sense of an interior spiritual life, an inner sense of moral boundaries, of what is right and what is wrong. Barbara is a loyal friend to those who have been good to her. For example the late Roy Cohn had her father's IRS taxes and penalties "fixed" for which she is eternally grateful. She testifies to Roy's good character (???)at his disbarrment hearing in New York out of such loyalty. He was rightfully disbarred regardless, for other extensive ethics violations. She is appalled that a retired Cabinet official takes a taxi like the rest of us and doesn't have a government paid driver for life. She has affairs with married men without any sense of guilt. Barbara was raised without any formal religion despite being ethically Jewish. Yet countless others raised that way develop their own sense of higher purpose. Hers seems to be all about self-promotion and fame. Perhaps I am being harsh, but this memoir has the feel of one of her TV specials. She has a detachment from herself that is unsatisfying to the reader, like eating junk food. The book's length will fill you up, but it lacks any nutritional value or substance. She certainly was a traiblazer for women in television and her recounting of that journey is the best part of an otherwise disappointing memoir."
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