I've never been a great fan of Barbara, but this book made me one. Loved her view of the past 40 years of encounters. Her determination made a difference for women.
Extremely well written; couldn't put it down.

Reading Barbara's words was like listening to her conversations. Such an enjoyable read. I hated putting the book down and was always anxious to get back to some quiet time to enjoy more. Fascinating woman and life. Made me realize just how humble and private she has been for so many years. My respect for the person is heartfelt.

I don't have the patience to wade through this book...too much information and too little interest. For those who love "tell all" books, it is a decent read...for those who have better things to do, it is a "skim it and put it on the shelf" tome.

If you like Barbara Walters and want to continue to like her; DO NOT READ this book. If I could have selected zero stars, I would have. I am totally turned off to someone I thought was a wonderful journalist and a powerful woman in her field. I cannot imagine what she was thinking when she wrote this book. First of all, it is not written well at all. It follows no chronological order what-so-ever and it is often very difficult to determine if we are talking about something that happened last year or in 1972. I found myself constantly re-reading and revisiting earlier chapters to determine what period in time I was reading about. I know you can't really know someone from a written account but by her own words, she lost any respect I might have had for her. Her affairs with married men, her arrogance at her abilities, her lack of parenting that caused her daughter many years of hardship, her selfishness with regard to her parents and her mentally challenged sister... it all disgusts me. I found myself actually getting angry at her cold heartedness and lack of humanity. Since I really can't find a single nice thing to say about this book and I don't want to give away any of the daunting details for anyone who might be looking for an awful book to read, I'll leave it as that.

I absolutely adored this book!

I wasn't aware that Barbara Walters played such a "ground breaking" role for women in the communications industry! Not to mention all of the diplomats, celebrities and real people she interviewed. What a resume!

It was extremely interesting to me to hear about "the story" behind the interview. As well as how she worked extremely hard to get where she is today.

I would highly recommend this book!

I was so excited about reading this book. I have to say though I enjoyed it and read it pretty quickly, I was left with a confused opinion about Miss. Walters. I caution readers that they may end up not really liking her when they are through reading this memoir. It is very well written and interesting but she left me with an empty feeling about her. I passed it on to my mom who is a big fan of hers and the same age as Miss. Walters so she new alot of that generation and she is having trouble finishing it because she is so upset on how cold and shallow she comes off. So read with caution.

This book is fantastic. I wasn't sure how much new I would learn about Barbara since I watch the View every day, but I learned a lot & enjoyed every minute of it. The book is very well written & entertaining.

I never received my book and I emailed Lucylu6969 the person who offered the book on Amazon to see what the status on receiving the book after waiting for over 1 month and she never responded. I will never go through a third party on Amazon again, not worth the frustration.

Mike

Read this book , its a lesson on life .
Best book ive read in a while .

I enjoyed reading this book. Because it is a "warts and all" tell-all, I am inclined to believe that it is truthful. Barbara Walters was a pioneer not only as a working woman but as a working woman in the field of broadcast journalism. For those who do not recall or even do not know how difficult it was for a "girl" to have a career, it is a rewarding read.

Although I ordered the book on May 25th, I still have not received the book!!!!!

I was looking forward to this book coming out. I thought for a long time Barbara Walters should write an autobiography and that she could have a lot to share with the public. And I was not wrong.

Barbara Walters clearly paved the way for female journalists everywhere, and for that she should be applauded. She has interviewed world leaders, celebrities, royalty, sports stars and the infamous alike. And she has done so with ease on camera and a lot of hard work off.

I was very impressed of her writing in the book her determination and tenacity she displayed on trying to "get" the most wanted people in the public eye at the time. And I found it easy to read in how the book was compartmentalized into the different types of people she interviewed.

There were three things that bothered me in reading the book that did not take away from my rating, but more on how I felt about Barbara Walters, and that was in the way she discussed and viewed her family, the way she gave backhanded compliments to some of the people she discussed and how she always had to add the little extra in her description that made her sound as if she was bragging (i.e. - instead of saying she was on vacation, she had to say she was on vacation on a yacht ....) I felt those things were unnecessary and showed she is not very humble.

I was very disturbed on how I felt she sort of turned her back on her family. Through the later chapters in the book, she kept on stating how guilty she felt that she was not with her mother, father & sister when they died and how she wished she did more for them in their failing health.

I did not find that all that believable. More that she had to add that now because it made her not look like a very nice woman.

But those character flaws are what make the book so good. I felt she was very honest and I enjoyed her book very much.

Very detaied and very interesting. Also very fair in her opinions. What a facinating life. I am a slow reader and took a week to read it, but I ENJOYED EVERY WORD!!

Candid and insightful. The book reads like a conversation with an old friend. Quite an enjoyable read. Amazing memories of the most influential figures of our time.

I just finished reading Barbara Walter's "Audition." It felt like Barbara was sitting in my living room just talking about her life. And what a wonderously exciting life it has been.

Thank you, Barbara, for sharing!

This is a long book but Ms. Walters has been around a long time so she has much to share with us. I found the book very interesting because Ms. Walters goes into great depth, behind the scenes so to speak, to tell her personal story. Frankly, I had a hard time putting the book down. It was that good. Ms. Walters has written her story, her way by her rules and the honesty and emotion are all there for us. Bravo Barbara!

Nothing against Barbara Walters, as she is obviously an accomplished woman, however, this book is long winded. She believes her life is far more interesting than I find it to be. Not to mention the fact that if you have heard all her never-ending press interviews etc., you already know everything in the book. If a book is good, I can't put it down until I'm finished, HOWEVER, I struggled to finish this. I forced myself to continue reading, hoping that I might finally 'get into it'. That never happened.

My advice: wait until your local library has it. Not worth the money.

Audition I very much enjoyed the audio book by Barbara Walters entitled Audition. I highly recommend it. It was even better because the audio book was read by Barbara herself.

Both my wife and I enjoyed reading this book. Comes accross as very honest and forthright about the ups and downs of her life experiences. I recommend it.

What a remarkable woman, and what an amazing career and life she has had! When you first open this book of almost 600 pages, the very first thing that grabs you is the flyleaf--before you even turn a page of the book, there begins an alphabetical listing (continued on the inside back cover) of the many famous interviews she has had, with names so big that a meeting with any one of them would be a lifetime event for most of us. And she lists at least 600 of them! Everyone knows about her chats with the presidents and their wives, other heads of state, and celebrities of all kinds. But Walters reminds us that she went on to develop more personal ties with some of them: Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro, and Sadat and Begin during the peace process, for example. During a few of her chapters, you can see where she crossed the line from being simply a journalist to being someone who actively helped to shape events herself. At a minimum, she was certainly instrumental in crafting how the public saw the major stories and players of her day, and there is always an intricate dance between an emerging public perception and what happens subsequently. Walters chased down, for months and if need be for years, the interviews she wanted to land--and there was always fierce competition to snare what she calls these "gets." In the long run, it was one of the things that burned her out on network journalism and caused her to turn more toward her top-rated Specials and The View. Along the way, however, I think she earned a Ph.D. in history and another one in political science.

But no doubt this book will be best remembered for the candor with which Walters speaks of her own personal issues. We hear all about her engaging father (whose many brilliant show businesses successes each ultimately ended in failure), her depressed and insecure mother (who suffered from the blows of fate until her death at 91), her mentally retarded sister Jackie (whom Walters both loved and hated), and her three marriages and numerous affairs (causing her to say that she will never marry again). But Walters' greatest love is for her adopted daughter Jackie, who moved from a teenage rebellion involving drugs and running away to a successful later career running a residential therapy facility for girls. Secondarily, we hear about the frosty on-camera relationships she had with her male colleagues Frank McGee and Harry Reasoner. Sexism was alive and well in the television field as Walters began and advanced her career, and it is stinging to be reminded of just how blatant and cruel it was. Any reader approaching a "tell all" memoir of this scope will want to know if the author was honest in telling her story and, as far as I can tell, Walters pulled no punches and held little back. The writing is good, the short chapters are easy to read, and this is the kind of book that you want to go on and on.

As a final note, the photos Walters provides are a delicious meal in their own right. Although not arranged in chronological order, they are an important counterpoint to the text. Many depict individuals not much discussed in the book, so they provide an amplification of her story. And, yes, perhaps Walters did not start out as the prettiest face in the business, but with great care she has grown more beautiful through the years. She now appears quite lovely. Though she is coy about her age, you can infer that she is breathing upon 80. We should all look so good! I started this read as a mild fan, and now I truly admire her. Hats off to you, Barbara!

Barbara Walters tries for years to have a baby, and is finally able to adopt one. She flies out to get the baby, who is 4 days old. When she tries to return home, the airlines will not let such a young baby fly, presumably for health reasons. Only 8 day old babies can fly.

So what does Ms. Walters do? Well, she has to have it her way. Who cares what's best for the baby? This new baby--whom she has wanted for years--cannot be allowed to get in the way of Walters' convenience. She goes to another airline and lies about the baby's age. Then tells this story in her book like it's funny.

Ms. Walters does not take maternity leave. She leaves the baby in the hands of a nanny (she calls her a "governess"), and proceeds to fly around the world CONSTANTLY, for her job. She is always somewhere beside New York, where her daughter is cared for by the nanny. Barbara is in the Middle East, in South America, interviewing people everywhere, a week here, a few days there. When she is not doing that, she is dating men around the country (she even had a bicoastal relationship with her 3rd husband). When did her daughter get to see her? A day or two a week?

She is overjoyed when she is given a job that requires her to travel even more--anywhere at any time, as she puts it. She is happy about this because she did not like her job as an anchor for the evening news--even though this job gave her a bit more time for her daughter. She calls her boss a "savoir" for giving her this job. AND she takes on other responsibilities--another TV show--which means still more hours away from her kid. Her kid seems to be a toy that she picks up at times, but mostly forgets.

She takes on more work and travel even though she is making PLENTY of money, and could easily cut back for the sake of her daughter. But she says very little she does for the sake of her daughter.

She makes no sacrifices for her child (at least none she reveals in her book). Walters feels that, because her daughter has the same nanny throughout her childhood, this makes her a good mother.

When a celebrity is willing to talk to her, she flies out to meet them on their terms. There is no way that she could have attended her daughter's school functions or important events, with a schedule that requires her to leave for the airport at a moment's notice.

Ms. Walters has the audacity to compare herself to other "working mothers", and says she shares their guilt. Most working mothers I know spend any available free time with their kids. They would love to cut back on their work, but they need the money. they don't take on other jobs, or volunteer to travel, when their children are young. Ms. Walters did, even though she was making hundreds of thousands (and later millions) of dollars a year--back in the 70s!

How different from Meredith Viera, who came onto The View because it did not require travel, and the hours allowed her to be home after school.

Barbara Walters is probably the only one who is surprised when her daughter has trouble during adolescence. And she has very little insight. She blames the girl's troubles on teenage rebellion, or the adoption. She never once says (though I'm sure her daughter says it to her) that her selfishness and ambition caused her to neglect her daughter, and her daughter was hurt by that. How could she not be?

Personally, I think some of Walters' success came about because many other journalists did not want to live her life--they preferred a more balanced work/family schedule and so they made some sacrifices for their family. Ms. Walters did not reveal any sacrifices that she made for her daughter. I would bet her daughter got more attention during her rebellious teenage years than she had gotten at any other time.

And Barbara Walters remains terribly insecure about her status as "mother." She told Dateline in 2002 that the reason her daughter did not wish to search for her birthparents was because she and her daughter had such a close bond. That shows a real lack of understanding about adoption. Searching for birthparents is not a sign that the adoptive parent/child bond is weak! It is quite natural for a child to want to know her birthparents.

Barbara Walters strikes me as one lonely lady now. No husband, no siblings, no grandchildren, and a daughter who lives hundreds of miles away (and whom she doesn't really seem to know.).

This book held my interest and took me back to places I was familiar with as a child. It was easy reading and enjoyable.

This autobiography is an entertaining read. Veteran TV journalist and first female American news anchor, Barbra Walters, shares her long and rich experience. For an internationalist like the writer of these lines, the most interesting chapters were the one where she reminisced about interviews with heads of States around the world the likes of Iraqi Saddam Hussein, Libyan Moammar Qhadhaffi and British Margret Thatcher, and the one that followed on her involvement in the Iran Contra scandal.
Walters refutes the common belief that she had played a key role in the Iran scandal, when officials from the Reagan administration sold arms to Iran in the late 1980s, through a Saudi arms broker called Adnan Khashogji. Walters description of her meetings with the Saudi broker on his ultra luxurious yacht off the French coast and in his apartment in Manhattan, New York, are vivid and entertaining.
Walters notes, and rightly so, that few decades ago, an interview with any head of state was considered to be a scoop for journalists. She criticizes the shift in interest and taste of America's viewers from news that matter to news of the "Britney Spearses," which have invaded most American TV channels as she puts it.
Yet Walters writes in full detail about the relationship between White House intern Monica Lewinsky and former President Bill Clinton, and how Walters - a journalist - covered the story and lived it firsthand. The Lewinsky chapter stands out as a contradiction to Walters earlier claims. If the Britney Spearses are not worth media coverage, then so are the Lewinskies.

I was very eager to read this memoir. I hinted that it would be a great Mother's day gift. I have very intelligent sons, I got it.
The book is interesting when it is sharing the early days. The Latin Club and the comings and goings of a piece of night life of that era are interesting.
I found Ms Walters a tad braggy, self promoting and boring when she started delving into her career and relationships.
I think its a marvellous point that she was a first in broadcasting. I give her bravos for that.
However as a woman who has been a celebrity now for many years she is used to being on the top of the heap and it shows.
She is on the A list and she knows it. She earned it.

I wish she had given her Mom more page time. She seems to be politely pushed to the background and the more famous father rises to the top like cream. Her sister also could have had a more indepth coverage and filled some of the guilt that Ms Walters appears to still be carrying.
It is worth the read but its like a second piece of cheesecake. We know its not good for us and we have had too much.

as always, Amazon did a wonderful job in delivering my purchase quickly. Now I have my "summer read" and can honestly say, I compliment Amazon in every way.

I thought the book was chaoticly written and her life considering how extroidnary it should be, was extremely mundane sounding. Where is her passions?
Obviously her hard work got her where she is. However, her book lacked (of all things) excitement! The true insight was how she resented her poor mentally challenged little sister. At least she was honest but she really had a long held grudge for a sister that obviously loved her.
Her life has been really blessed. Go figure....

I was very much looking forward to reading this book and bought it soon after it was released. However, it was drudgery getting through it. I was sadly disappointed in the book. It didn't flow and it didn't hold my attention. Ms. Walters has led such an incredibly interesting life and I admire her for all she has done. Maybe she will write another book that holds one's attention.

Audtion is probably one of the most marketed books in recent history. The excerpts chosen to sell the product is misleading. Although "Memoir" talks about some of her love relationships throughout her career...the story is so much more. What I enjoyed most were the personal accounts of historic events...Nixon, Egypt/Isreal peace accord, Fidel Castro...other presidential events. What's most valuable for young readers is to understand the subtle correlations between issues then and issues now. Ms. Walters does a great job in demonstrating how history and issues repeat themselves.

Ms. Walters did not leave one detail of her life out of this book! I love it! Historical and fascinating, Ms. Walters retains her integrity but tells a side of her that surprises me.

Barbara Walters is a slimeball for embarrassing former Senator Ed Brooke, who is now 88 years old, by revealing their decades-old affair.

She has admitted she didn't ask his permission to reveal the story, but only told him after the book was printed and about to be released. Nice.
Apparently, to make the story juicier she deliberately omits the fact that Brooke was already separated from his wife for quite some time when they began the affair.

Aren't there enough anecdotes to sell the book without embarrassing your aged former lover, Barbara? Did his family really need to read this?

Sleazy is as sleazy does.

(PS Barbara, you are not fooling anyone with all the facelifts and the skinny jeans on the View. We can tell you are an old lady.)

Barbara Walters is a slimeball for embarrassing former Senator Ed Brooke, who is now 88 years old, by revealing their decades-old affair.

She has admitted she didn't ask his permission to reveal the story, but only told him after the book was printed and about to be released. Nice.

Apparently, to make the story jucier she deliberately omits the fact that Brooke was already separated from his wife for quite some time when they began the affair.

Aren't there enough anecdotes to sell the book without embarrassing your aged former lover, Barbara?

Sleazy is as sleazy does.

(PS You are not fooling anyone with all the facelifts and the skinny jeans on the View. We can tell you are an old lady.)

Has this CD version of the book been edited so badly that there is no mention at all of the "loves" of Barbara's lives? What happened to the "men" chapter that caused all the fuss....it seems to be missing on the CD! I was most dissapointed!

How this self-aggrandizing "legend" can consider herself a legitimate journalist (sorry--you can't be both Rona Barrett AND Walter Cronkite) in light of the decades of questionable situational ethics she recounts here is anyone's guess. Knowing the back stories of her numerous professional conflicts-of-interest (she readily confesses to many incidents involving lying and/or covering up for friends and associates, frequently for her own personal benefit), why should anyone believe anything she says now?

Still, an interesting (if tediously overlong) look at Walters' near-pathological claw-to-the-top in the early TV trenches. . . and inadvertantly fascinating in ways the lady probably never intended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At 582 pages, it's a little large to lug to a beach, but it is definitely an engrossing read. I enjoyed the personal parts of the book, but I really enjoyed reading about the many celebrity interviews and meetings. I think one of my favorite stories was about Barbara and Henry Kissing going to the sports arena; I also enjoyed reading the Monica Lewinsky section and admit, this book improved my opinion of Monica. What a life Barbara Walters has led!

I loved hearing this book read, in Barbara's own words and her own emphasis in her phrasing.
This was a very interesting story on Barbara's life; especially as a viewer and fan, one always thinks a celebrity's life is all glamour and riches.

What is didn't hear in the CD's, as was supposidely written in her book, was the segment on her relationship with a black married man. First, I thought I may have missed this segment, so I listened to all 5 of the CD's two more times. I'm wondering why Barbara left this portion of the book out as she read it for the CD version.

Alright, I grew up with Barbara on TV, how much more could there be to know? 600 Pages Worth?? The answer with her friendly, personal writing style and endless adventures into turning into the TV role model she became is a resounding... YES!

Now is a great time to read it, since she wrote the last section in 2007 --- so you get all the latest news including her take on the revolving seats on The View and her retirement from 20/20.

Many people in their reviews said they found the most interesting parts the discussions about her personal life - husbands, daughter, flings. I found the opposite to be true. Okay - she had a couple of affairs and a few marriages all which ended gracefully. While interesting, hardly the most sizzling news. Even she admits, with some guilt - they came second to her career. And yet, her career was about relationships - making relationships with interesting people that she could either interview or would get her access to interviews.

One of the most revealing things to me was the endless pursuit of the relationships to ensure she had the next "big scoop". It's worth reading - just to learn how a master does that! Her honest impressions of those she met along her route - are very revealing, and expose what she was really thinking behind those interviews.

Name dropping is everywhere - and what make it such fun is she shares her real feelings and interactions about those she met along the way - from the drunken Betty Ford, and the master of glib Tom Cruise to the charm of Castro and the Dalai Lama.

Add in an interesting look at her up-bringing with her entrepeneurial, out-going father, "slow" sister and reserved mother - and you have a recipe for 600 pages worth of good reading.

How this self-aggrandizing "legend" can consider herself a legitimate journalist (sorry--you can't be Rona Barrett AND Walter Cronkite) in light of the decades of questionable situational ethics she recounts here is anyone's guess. Knowing the back stories of her many professional conflicts-of-interest (she readily confesses to many incidents involving lying and/or covering up for friends and associates, frequently for her own personal benefit), why should anyone believe anything she says now?

Still, an interesting (if needlessly overlong) look at her near-pathological desperatation to claw-to-the-top in the early days of TV. . . and inadvertantly fascinating in ways that Walters probably never intended. (It's a cinch Harry Reasoner would not have allowed the publisher to decorate the endpapers of his autobiography with the names of dozens of celebrities he'd interviewed.)

I began this book a huge fan of barbara walters and concluded it feeling that she has lived a largely selfish life, that focused mostly on the big "gets" and not enough on her responsibilities as a mother, daughter, and sister. Where her parents and sister are concerned she mostly expressees regret at lost opportunities to give more of herself to them. Very sad, indeed. Where her daughter is concerned, it is not difficult to figure out that her adolescent angst was related to a largely absentee mother who was galloping about the world courting the next big "get". Yuck.

Barbara gives a simplified history lesson of events that she covered or was involved in. I plan to keep this as a reference for "who did what" in recent history.

Barbara is forthright and painfully honest in her autobiography. I grew up watching her, and now I understand what a pro she really is. To maintain her professional demeanor in the midst of great personal sorrow is inspiring to me as a professional. Sometimes you just have to "do the next thing next." She did, and she has much to show for it...Well worth the time to read. You'll have a hard time putting this one down. It is a great story.

I loved the book, but my problem was the pictures. There are two picture sections in the book and some of the same photos were repeated in the second section. This leads me to believe that some were omitted in a printing error. Is this the reason the book was so reasonably priced? I feel like I received a publishers reject.

Great book, very interesting. Didn't realize all the recent history that would be in this book. Barbara has led a very interesting life and it's fun to read about it.

It is a well written book, and it is very interesting. While it is slower read than I thought it would be, I am very much enjoying it. Knowing more about her childhood has helped me understand her better. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys autobiographies.

Lady Vol Fan

I am surprised at how down to earth Barbara Walters is. It is an easy read book.

I am a Walters fan, but I was disappointed in her memoir. I found it to be too long for the content she had to offer. It was a little repetitive and full of false humility. Don't think I would recommend it to my friends as a book I couldn't put down. In fact I found myself skipping some of the pages because it all sounded the same.

Barbara Walters has always been an interesting interviewer in my opinion and it was interesting to read about her life. I was not aware of her father's reputation and her sister's problem, but the biggest shock was concerning her affair with the congressman for the extended period of time.

I have my own opinion of the affair and prefer to keep it to myself.

I did enjoy reading the book.

I am on page 278 out of 579 pages of this book so far and Barbara Walters has led a fairly interesting life. I cannot believe how secreative she was in her life. I guess she had to be about some things, espically the political part of her life which as far as I am concerned thier is too much of in this book. I am WAY more interested in her personal life which I find much more intreginging in this book. Now in her seventies, which she does not say seventy what, Barbara Walters played in the "Man's sand box and knew when to open her mouth and when to keep it shut. Something that I admire her for becuase to this day I have a lot of trouble with opening my mouth and inserting my foot. She was one of only a had full of women back then that paved the way for women today. It is still a "Man's world" but thanks to women like Barbara Walters it is ssslllooowwwwllly getting better for us up and coming women. Hopefully my niece who is studying to be a Nurse and is currently 22 will be able to say and do what she thinks and not have to worry about the ramifications. Yeah Barbara!!! Linda S. Bartman, Galloway, Ohio

It's informative, but if you've seen any of the interviews of her since the book's release you've already heard the most interesting anecdotes. But it does make Babs seem more human. What a well-rounded life she has!

This is an excellent historical look at the last 45 years from an American's view point. Walters is a little bit too impressed with herself but it would probably be hard not to be after the kudo's she has enjoyed.

This memoir has really covered Barbara Walter's life and she reveals things some felt should be omitted. But if you tell your life story as it happened, it is only a truthful revelation and she said she contacted those whose lives were affected for permission to use in her story. She has had a remarkable life and anyone who is around her age has followed her career as I have and found it fascinating to hear about how she has come to the place she is today. I admire her and think it is a very interesting account of her life.