Young people starting out in television sometimes say to me:
“I want to be you.” My stock reply is always: “Then you have to take the whole package.”
Book Blurb:
And now, at last, the most important woman in the history of television journalism gives us that “whole package,” in her inspiring and riveting memoir. After more than forty years of interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds, Barbara Walters has turned her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that shaped her extraordinary life.
Barbara Walters’s perception of the world was formed at a very early age. Her father, Lou Walters, was the owner and creative mind behind the legendary Latin Quarter nightclub, and it was his risk-taking lifestyle that made Barbara aware of the ups and downs that can occur when someone is willing to take great risks.
The financial responsibility for her family, the fear, the love all played a large part in the choices she made as she grew up: the friendships she developed, the relationships she had, the marriages she tried to make work. Ultimately, thanks to her drive, combined with a decent amount of luck, she began a career in television. And what a career it has been! Against great odds, Barbara has made it to the top of a male-dominated industry.
She has spent a lifetime auditioning, and this book, in some ways, is her final audition, as she fully opens up both her private and public lives. In doing so, she has given us a story that is heartbreaking and honest, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always fascinating.
My Review:
It’s always fun to get the down low on our celebrities. I always wonder how they got their start. Born with a silver spoon or gagging on mush for the twentieth day? In this case, she appears to have experienced a bit of both.
First, I marveled that as a girl of her generation, she was given the opportunity for college when most women were not expected to have more than a high school education if that. That generation would not waste an education on someone whose role was expected to be a wife and mother.
There certainly was a drive in her, however, in that her father worked heavily in the entertainment business. Lou Walters, who managed during tough financial times in the US, created the sensational Latin Quarter Nightclub in New York. Originally from London, his nightclub was a sensational hit. And then it wasn’t. Feast or famine. And insecurity.
But, yes, as with any who finally makes it to the top, there was a combination of luck, timing, and hard, hard work—willing to take on anything. And back then, a woman in that industry was expected to do little more than fetch coffee.
In her sixty-five years in the industry, as a journalist, she interviewed anyone and everyone. The famous and infamous. Newsworthy. News reporter, co-anchor, and anchor. Television personality, appearing and/or creating topical talk shows. I must admit that I didn’t watch The View, but did enjoy 20/20 and her interviews.
At almost twenty-seven hours of an audiobook, translating to more than 628 Kindle or print pages, you can imagine she didn’t leave anyone out of her book. Less you believe I didn’t pound through all that, I’ll admit there were more than a few dry areas, then jerking back into someone of interest. Enough that there would be someone of interest to a wide range audience.
Her love life, affairs, and marriages? Gees, Barbara, TMI.
Still, there were a number of quotables and I found it fascinating that she vacillated so much over decisions. Indeed, one of my favorites:
“On my gravestone I want inscribed maybe, on the other hand, I should have lived.”
Obviously, something may have made the decision for her. She passed away in 2022.
She may possibly have reduced this book by half if she had not expanded on the story of most everyone she cited. Granted, they were all notable, maybe some more than others. Somehow, though, this reader hung in there for every new celebrity by speeding up the audiobook pace or I’d still be listening to it.
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars 
Book Details:
Genre: Biographies of Journalists, Editors & Publishers, Journalist Biographies, Biographies of Women
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B001M5G75Y
Listening Length: 26 hrs 46 mins
Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
Publication Date: November 24, 2008
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
The Author: Barbara Walters of American television reported news from 1961 for the National Broadcasting Company, and afterward in 1976 joined as the first woman to anchor the nightly network to 1979.
Barbara Jill Walters wrote as a journalist and media personality as a regular fixture on morning shows like The View. People knew Walters for more than a decade in the morning on Today, where she with Hugh Downs later hosted Frank McGee and Jim Hartz. Walters later spent a quarter-century as co-host of 20/20, an evening magazine. She stood with Harry Reasoner on The American Broadcasting Company Evening News. [Wikipedia]
[Wikipedia has an extensive bio on Ms Walters from personal to professional life, well worth checking out. She accomplished more in her ninety-three years than most can imagine and is truly inspirational in breaking records and opening doors for women.]
©V Williams
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