Promotional Information

Insight into the experiences of one of television's most influential female icons.

About the Author

Barbara Walters is the first woman ever to cohost a network news program. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. An ABC News correspondent, she is also host of The Barbara Walters Specials and the creator, cohost, and co-executive producer of ABC Daytime's The View. She lives in New York City. From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

Listeners have two recordings of Walters's 580-page tell-all from which to choose. The abridged version is read by the media personality herself, and other than affording listeners her authentic voice, complete with her trademark lisp, this version is not worthwhile--lasting just six hours, it omits massive amounts of information; notably, Walters's affair with former senator Edward Brooke. In the unabridged version, Bernadette Dunne does a fine job as a surrogate for Walters. The quality of both versions is excellent, and both are appropriate for audio and biography collections in all types of libraries. The unabridged version is recommended for purchase, though some collections may warrant the abridged, CliffNotes edition. [Audio clips available through www.booksontape.com and www.randomhouse.com/audio; the Knopf hc, released in May, is an LJ Best Seller, a title most borrowed in U.S. libraries.--Ed.]--Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

"The crowning glory of a remarkable career."
--Liz Smith, New York Post "An ambitious and successful book. . . . Suffused with an emotional intensity. . . . It belongs to a part of American culture that Walters helped invent."
--The New Yorker "Walters doesn't shy from the tough stuff. . . . Nor does she, an entertainer as much as a groundbreaking journalist, skimp on the fun bits."
--People "A frank, graceful memoir of a . . . groundbreaking career in television."
--O, The Oprah Magazine "Walters' heartfelt candor lifts this book above mere titillation. . . . Blended with this personal drama is a delightful tale of the golden age of television. . . . She regales you with the juicy behind-thescenes details of the celebrities she's interviewed, mixed in with stories of her own trials and tribulations. In the end, you envy her a little less and admire her more."
--The Washington Post "Audition contains some fascinating stories (Walters censoring her interview with a sloshed Betty Ford), a good deal of frankness (defending her friendship with GOP power broker Roy Cohn), and grand old war stories from her groundbreaking stints with Today and ABC News."
--Entertainment Weekly "Compulsively entertaining."
--Salon "Witty, candid and full of history, both her own and of the events of the past five decades, Walters's memoir is a fascinating look at the life of a groundbreaking journalist."
--The Post and Courier (Charleston) "Audition is brutally honest, both about Walters and those she's worked with. Readers won't be left wondering what she thinks of anything, or anyone, for that matter. . . . It's a fascinating look at a woman who has lived a fascinating life."
--Laura L. Hutchison, The Free Lance-Star "...the book is a triumph!"
--Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic "...the grande dame of TV news has written a blockbuster. . . . Readers will gobble up the excerpts from scores of interviews with world leaders, politicians, celebrities and murderers."
--Kathleen Daley, New York Sun "an indispensable book along with a surefire monster best seller . . . intensely readable. . . . She's TV's original monarch and superstar where power, show business and journalism converge. It's Barbara Walters' world, and the rest of us just live in it. [Her] mammoth memoir, doesn't just touch chords, it's a 600-plus page oratorio."
--Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News "Ms. Walters's story is greatly humanized by the family memoir that colors her long litany of professional successes."
--Janet Maslin, The New York Times "The crowning glory of a remarkable career."
--Liz Smith, New York Post "Sizzling."
--Jo Piazza, New York Daily News "Compulsively readable. . . . [Walters] gives us an entertaining panorama of a full life lived and recounted with humor and bracing honesty. Alternating between tales of her personal struggles, professional achievements and insider anecdotes about the celebrities and world leaders she's interviewed, this mammoth memoir's energy never flags."
--Publishers Weekly (starred) "A smart, funny, fascinating book in which Walters captures possibly her most elusive subject: herself."
--Ilene Cooper, Booklist (starred)

Starred Review. Although Walters writes, It was not in my nature to be courageous, to be the first, her compulsively readable memoir proves otherwise. No one lasts on TV for more than 45 years without the ability to make viewers feel comfortable, and Walters's amiable persona perfectly translates to the page. She gives us an entertaining panorama of a full life lived and recounted with humor and bracing honesty. Walters is surprisingly candid: about her older sister's retardation, her father's suicide attempt, her midlife affairs (including ones with John Warner--before and after his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor--and a very married Edward Brooke, the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction), her daughter's troubled teen years and her acrimonious relationships with coanchors Frank McGee and Harry Reasoner. She vividly recounts her decision to leave NBC's TodayShow after 14 years to become the first female nightly news coanchor, and tells of the firestorm of criticism she endured for accepting that pioneering position and its million-dollar salary. Alternating between tales of her personal struggles, professional achievements and insider anecdotes about the celebrities and world leaders she's interviewed, this mammoth memoir's energy never flags. 32 pages of photos. (One-day laydown May 6) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.