Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
EAN: 9780739327302
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 0739327305
Label: Random House Large Print
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 992
Publication Date: 2008-05-06
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Release Date: 2008-05-06
Studio: Random House Large Print

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.”

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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Product
Comment: Bought as a present along with another book (hardbound) from Amazon "The Last Lecture". On both copies pages were so unevenly cut it looked as though a mouse or two had a good dinner. The library had a proper copy! Otherwise, Amazon has been good to me over the years, except for the ultimate embarrasement of presenting this gift (time ran out.)

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Customer Rating:
Summary: BARBARA WALTERS AUDITION
Comment: Here I am in Australia possibly one of a few to own the book as it is not due to hit our shelves until at least December. I received the book last night and sat up and read nearly half the book before I had to concede to sleep. She is a very interesting woman and the people she has met and interviewed is mind blowing and at the same time this intimate travel through Babara Walters life displays the humble and human side of her. I am betting that by late this evening I will have finished the book, because it was so hard to put down.

I would recommend it to anyone - even if you don't know the first thing about this lady. A book well worth buying.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: worth the money
Comment: Entertaining.....very, very detailed story of Barbara's personal and public life. Long book, worth the money if you are a fan.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Didn't Read the Book
Comment: I will not support a woman that has had affairs by buying her book. Why not just put a PIG on the cover?

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, Honest Insights for Working Women
Comment: My mother-in-law gave me this book and I wasn't expecting to particularly like it, as I am not that familiar with Barbara Walter's work (other than a few specials I have watched.) I certainly didn't realize all the barriers she had broken through for women in journalism. But what really drew me into this book was her honesty about being a working mom - the conflicts she often felt between her own career drive and the needs of her daughter, parents, and disabled sister. She owns up to that most difficult of emotions that many of us working moms often feel but frequently deny - GUILT. But at this point in her life, she is philosophical about it, and doesn't come off as self-punishing, or as regretting her decisions. She is grateful for her extraordinary life, and comes off as having done the best she could. I especially appreciated her honesty about the difficulties she had with her daughter as a teenager. I think that chapter alone is worth reading the book.

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