Nine stars
I have once again decided to embark on a mission to read a number of books on subjects that will be of great importance to the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Election. This was a great success as I prepared for 2020, with an outcome at the polls (and antics by both candidates up to Inauguration Day) that only a fiction writer might have come up with at the time! Many of these will focus on actors and events intricately involved in the US political system over the last few years, in hopes that I can understand them better and, perhaps, educate others with the power to cast a ballot. I am, as always, open to serious recommendations from anyone who has a book I might like to include in the process.
This is Book #11 in my 2024 US Election Preparation Challenge.
Susan Page delivers this stunning look into the life and times of Barbara Walters, one of the great female journalists in American history. Ready to shatter glass ceilings when male journalists sought to keep her away, Walters did what she could and paved the way for success. However, she had her moments and could be seen as overly competitive or cold, as Page recounts in this stunning biography. Filled with wonderful anecdotes and some of the darker moments in Walters' career, Page delivers a great read for anyone who seeks to see the truth behind the woman.
The face of American journalism would never be the same once Barbara Walters came onto the scene. Her depictions would change the way people saw the news, an essential part of any political system. Before Barbara came her parents, whose own families arrived in American through their own journeys. As Susan Page opens the biography, she depicts the lives of these two, often down in the dumps, but never without spirit. Lou Walters pulled up his socks and would one day become a highly noticed entertainer and procurer of talent. This would force Barbara to live in his shadow for years to come.
With a sister, young Barbara soon began to explore the world, always hungry to learn more. As Page depicts in the early chapters, Barbara was always feeling held back, as her sister had mental conditions, labelled retarded at the time but eventually thought to be autism. Barbara would always have to coddle her sister, but used books to escape her life and the crazy hours her father worked to gather talent around the Boston area. As Barbara aged, she would have to try to make a name for herself, which was difficult with all that he did and the people with whom the elder Walters surrounded himself.
After some post-secondary education at a reputable school, Barbara wanted to get into the world of advertising and media, with television still an early form at the time. Page recounts the many jobs that Barbara had and the limits she sought to push to ensure that she was never left behind. Her father's fame helped open doors for her, but many still wanted her to stay in line as many other women might. Barbara would have none of it, always eager to forge her own path. She was offered many opportunities and took them, never looking back and always trying to challenge those before her.
When network television became more the norm, Barbara Walters used her intuitiveness to forge new paths for herself. Reporting on many issues, she was often seen as the lowly woman, though she was happy to climb any obstacle put before her. As Susan Page illustrates, Barbara made herself a key player and wanted to wrest control from men in the business. This was met not only with bitterness, but countless levels of a glass ceiling that Walters would have to smash through. As Page makes clear, while Walters cut herself on the shards, she was less worried about other women having a clear way to success, but rather wanted to lead the way, with others crawling through the trenches as well. There was never any coddling by Barbara Walters.
Page depicts many of the key battles that Walters had in her professional career, with anchormen refusing to offer her the same respect as they would their male colleagues. When Walters found herself at the anchor desk, she was shunned and given the cold shoulder, but she was less concerned about this, as long as she was making moves to better herself. She climbed and rose, jumping from NCB over to ABC when the time was right and she wanted to ensure her star never diminished.
Walters had a private life that was equally as hectic, as the biography depicts. Her numerous marriages and courtships became aspects of her life that would shape her until she died. Tied to that, a daughter who ran off as soon as she became a teenager, only to become addicted to drugs and be put in a rehab facility, while her mother's star continued to rise. Walters struggled, there is no doubt, but she could not let her personal life take over the dramatic happenings in the world of journalism and broadcasting.
Walters soon became known as one of the top-tier journalists, interviewing heads of state and important people in all four corners of the world. She would be sought after by world leaders and celebrities alike, always pushing to get the deep and dark answers to the questions she felt the world wanted to hear. This reputation came with a cost, as Walters would have to combat other female journalists who followed in her footsteps. Susan Page talks of a few, especially the battles what Diane Sawyer at ABC. This proved to be a less that cordial battle that lasted until they both left the journalistic arena.
The latter portion fo the book looked at Barbara Walters and her later exploits, including daytime talk shows that would help create a generational expanse of knowledge and insight. Walters had done so much for the women around her that she wanted to give new generations a chance to challenge norms, which proved useful throughout the time Walters was associated with The View and other projects of the same ilk. It was only when she decided to step away that Walters truly saw some solace, though it was only for a brief time until her death in 2022. She lived a full and exciting life, always ready to push the envelop a little more and to challenge another person to see things from her perspective.
Susan Page takes the greatest of subjects and breathes new life into them. Walters was a formidable woman and always sought to push herself to the limits, leaving those around her to gaze. Great chapters build her up and show the progress that Barbara Walters had. There was no point in the biography that things turned stale even for a moment. Page has the ability to bring things to life and does so with well-paced storytelling and perfect anecdote inclusion, all in the effort to deliver a knockout punch for the reader to enjoy. Mixing all aspects of Walters' life, using mostly a chronological format, helping the reader to see how excitement ebbed and flowed throughout the woman's life. In a piece that is full of important interviews to coax out as many anecdotes as possible, Page provides a stunning look into the life of this amazing woman. I am happy to have taken the time to read this and will be back with another hard-hitting biography to help add depth and political punch to my reading challenge. I am eager to contrast the two pieces then.
Kudos, Madam Page, for this stunning biography.
No comments:
Post a Comment